


Dont blame me (your love made me crazy)

by Bluejay720



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, F/F, Fluff, Hope said she's going to paint Josie like one of her french girls, Hope's a mess, Josie can't do math, Loving from a distance, Mutual Pining, Pining, Slow Burn, So slow you'll wonder if they ever get together, Two plus two equals five, Wolf Hope is a ball of floof, and possessive, so much pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:47:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 35,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26819059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluejay720/pseuds/Bluejay720
Summary: "Because it's safer for you to hate me. It's better for everyone if you don't care about me at all."That's all she can get out before collapsing to her knees. The pain only grows as she can feel her wolf starting to surface. The pain becomes more familiar as the wolf thrashes inside of her. Her eyes turn golden."Hope?! What's wrong? Are you okay?" Josie comes down instantly to where the Tribrid is curled up at. Setting a hand on her shoulder."Josie, you need to get away now!" Her voice is shifting to allow for the canines that are rapidly growing, her voice sounding more animalistic than human.Her bones begin to crack and break as she allows herself to embrace the shift and the pain.ORHope and Josie are soulmates, and Hope has hidden that fact her entire life. But now, her wolf refuses to leave Josie's side and forces Hope to shift.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 628
Kudos: 1407





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the childhood soulmates au that no one asked for! featuring wolf Hope!
> 
> This won the vote on Dive bar and promise you if you voted for option A, don't worry because I'll post that one soon =) 
> 
> This chapter is more of an epilogue to set the stage, This is kind of an alternate universe but also follows canon to an extent. Would take place before season one. Hope you guys enjoy! let me know what you think!

For as long as Hope can remember, she's always been protective. Loyal. A guardian for those she cares about. 

It really didn't do her psychological problems any favors when everyone she cared for and wanted to protect died trying to save her. 

Caring made her vulnerable. It made her yearn for a different story, one where she wasn't the hero everyone expected her to be. Or the villain she eventually would turn out to be.

She hadn't always been this cynical; she once had been hopeful and wanted to connect with others—especially the one who would turn out to be her everything. 

The first time she had ever heard about soulmates was when her aunt Freya and Keelin were talking. She was only eight.

They had said something about wanting the best for your soulmate, an innate need to please them. 

Hope's eight-year-old mind had latched onto the idea of wanting to take care of someone and wanting the best for them, even if she didn't fully understand what they were talking about.

"I want a soulmate!" 

She had exclaimed so excitedly that both Freya and Keeling looked over to her. She was supposed to be in bed but wanted to stay up, so she snuck downstairs.

"You're supposed to be asleep, little wolf." Freya scoops her up in her arms and spins her around.

Her joyous laugh fills the air. She settles on her aunt Freya's lap as Keelin brushes her hair out of her face. 

"But I didn't want to sleep. What are you and aunt Keelin talking about?"

"We were discussing soulmates." Keelin begins. Hope waits patiently for her aunt to continue.

"Some people, as you know, have the wolf gene, which on the full moon night makes them transform into a wolf."

"Except those from the crescent moon!" Hope contributes joyfully. 

"Exactly. Some call this a curse, something to be ashamed about. While being a wolf does have its downsides, there is a perk as well. They also have soulmates, others that compliment perfectly. Each wolf, when they meet their mate, will be in tune with their emotions and feelings."

Keelin pauses to make sure Hope is following. The little redhead watches rapt with attention, eyes wide. 

"Wolves are protective and loyal, it's in their nature. The same can be said with those who have the wolf gene. This means that anyone who meets their soulmate will want their happiness and will strive to make them happy."

Hope nods along, "like you and aunt Freya? Are you both soulmates?" 

The two aunts' eyes meet, a smile on both of their faces. "Yes, we are."

Hope smiles happily and begins to rub her eyes, trying to hide a yawn. 

The two women pick up the sleepy child and take her up the stairs to her room. Hope puts up a slight fight claiming she's not tired while she's in the midst of falling asleep.

"Do I have a soulmate?" 

She's almost asleep, so the answer floats to her ears as if underwater.

"Of course you do, Hope, One day you'll find them, you'll know when you meet them."

She dreamed that night of a warm smile and a future filled with love and kindness. 

She didn't fully understand what her aunts had meant. 'she would know when she met them?'

Questions filled with worry and uncertainty made her unsure about the future.

What if she never met them? What if they met and they didn't want Hope?

What if because she was part witch, wolf, and vampire, she didn't get one?

Those lingering questions and doubts were pushed aside when her eyes landed on the most beautiful girl she had ever seen.

Her mom had taken her to see the Salvatore boarding school, which an old friend of hers was running. Hope was excited and worried all at the same time.

According to her mother, she had always been somewhat shy, struggling to open up to new people. She didn't have many chances to make friends, especially not around her age with supernatural abilities.

Her excitement grew as she and her mom made way to the school. Alaric, her mom's friend, greeted them when they arrived, taking them to a field area where kids were running all around. Hope didn't pay attention much as they talked, but soon, he called over two girls, a blonde and a brunette. They were his daughters. 

The second she laid eyes on the brunette, she could feel her heart beat faster; she had never seen someone so pretty. It felt like her entire world was shifted off its axis.

Hope was surprised at the warm feelings that surrounded her from just laying eyes on the brunette. She wanted to jump up and hug the girl, but restrained herself from doing anything like that, not wanting to make a fool of herself so early on. 

She may only be ten years old, but she holds all the pride a Mikaelson can have. 

She instead gives a small smile and a wave to the brunette, her heart skipping a beat when she smiles back.

Hope's eyes drift over to the blonde, having remembered her mom telling her about the twins Josie and Lizzie, the question is, which one the brunette is.

Alaric introduced the blonde as Lizzie and the brunette as Josie. 

Josie.

The name made her smile wider, finally having been told what it was. Alaric and her mom walk away from the girls so they can get acquainted with each other.

She tries to smile, her anxiety about meeting new people, making it hard to get words out. "Hi, I'm Hope."

Even though she is anxious and worried, she has hope (pun not intended) that everything will turn out okay, and that these two will grow to like her. They could all be friends.

The blonde stands tall, she has a pout and a glare on her face. "Like we care." 

Hope instantly deflates, all thoughts of the future and possibly being friends vanishing in an instant. 

The brunette looks scandalized at her sister, gasping. "Lizzie!" She smacks her sister on the arm with the back of her hand. Lizzie rolls her eyes with a huff and walks away from both of them.

Josie steps closer to her and smiles a shy smile. "I'm sorry about her, we just found out our mom isn't coming for our birthday, she's not normally like that."

Hope nods her head but doesn't say anything, her gaze towards the ground. She feels a pang of sadness hit her that doesn't feel familiar. Her stomach churns at the feeling. 

Unclear at what is going on exactly, or what she feels, she glances up to see Josie step closer; she reaches out and rests her hand on Hope's arm, squeezing it gently. She smiles wide, feeling the sadness go away as fast as it came. 

They stayed like that for a few seconds, before Hope asked, "What do you like to do for fun?"

Josie looks down and pulls her hand back from Hope. She's a little disappointed as the warmth leaves her arm. 

"I like singing, I have a journal that I write down lyrics in." She gives a shy smile as she says this, unsure how Hope will react.

"That's so cool! Maybe you can show me sometime?" Josie looks hesitant at Hope's hopeful gaze. Before she can say anything, she speaks faster, words tumbling out. 

"You don't have to at all, I don't want you to feel uncomfortable." 

Little Josie smiles with a gap between her teeth, and Hope finds herself more endeared than she had ever been before.

"No, that's okay, I'd love to show you sometime." 

That was the beginning of the end of their friendship. It wasn't long after that Lizzie had decided to hate her, for reasons she didn't quite understand. 

She didn't help the situation and was as much to blame as the twins for the distance. Something about hiding herself as a Tribrid made her not want to make close connections; she was already anti-social and an introvert. So what if she was also incredibly lonely.

That pull never went away, no matter how hard she tried to give it up. The interest towards the brunette siphoner ate away at her and made it near impossible to stay away for long. 

While they weren't friends, they weren't enemies either, not like Lizzie, and she was.

Hope hated not being around Josie, but the distance was essential. Everyone in her life had gotten hurt, or worse. She couldn't bear the thought of Josie being injured or killed because of her; she couldn't live with herself.

If that meant that she would never get to have a proper friendship or relationship with the brunette, she could live with herself. As long as Josie was safe. 

They had such a promising start as children, if only she would stop ruining everything she touches. 

Hope was sick and tired of the loneliness but knew that it was better for everyone if they stayed away. Her family line never brought good things, adding a friend to the mix, let alone a soulmate, would complicate everything.

While she's been able to keep her distance from almost everyone, she hasn't been able to do it all the time. She still felt a small fraction of Josie's emotions. This, in turn, led her to guide through what her own feelings were and what the brunette felt.

She didn't tell anyone that they were soulmates, not her mother and father, when they were alive, not her aunts, and especially not Josie.

Her wolf begged to come out when Josie was around; there was this unmistakable itch that yearned to be scratched so the wolf in her could be free around her mate. 

She never allowed herself too. Not entirely, at least. Too afraid of what would happen if she did and how much harder it would be to stay away from the siphoner.

She could give a thousand reasons why she rejected both Lizzie and Josie. Why she rejected the mere thought of being friends. The main one and the one that mattered most was that she was scared. Terrified of giving the power to Josie to break her. The ability to utterly destroy her. She couldn't give anyone that power; she couldn't let anyone have the possibility to end her without even meaning too. 

It was better this way.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!!
> 
> For those who read dive bar, I'm a little behind on writing it so I should post the next chapter in a couple of days

Hope sighs as she treads down the hallway. Classes still went on, and she still had to attend, had to do everything she really just didn't have the motivation to do. 

The past few weeks have felt off. She usually felt some level of uneasiness on the regular, but this felt different. It felt as if her entire body was on edge. 

She hadn't been able to shift for the past few weeks, hadn't allowed herself to. 

She's deep in thought about letting her wolf run wild sometime tonight when a force collides with her, almost sending her down. 

She takes a step back and growls at the person. The random student who she's probably seen before but didn't bother to remember their name looks terrified at her. 

'Great, just what I needed today.' 

He bows his head and scurries away, looking as if he just narrowly avoided death. 

With the way her mood has been going down the last few weeks, maybe she would have maimed him a little…

She rolls her eyes and continues her walk towards her next class, History of magic. 

You would think that having an all-powerful aunt such as Freya would allow her to opt-out of the class, but no such luck. 

As she steps into the classroom, she takes a deep breath, which is a mistake. As she inhales deeper, her nose is assaulted with vanilla, a scent she's all too familiar with. 

Josie sits front and center of the classroom, her notebook out, and already writing something. 

The girl appeared to be writing something down in her journal, one that Hope had seen her use countless times before. 

She lets herself breathe in deeper and listens to the steady thump, thump, thump of the brunette's heartbeat. Her ears already are fine tuned to the sound.

She swallows hard and walks back to her seat in the very back. The last bell rings, signaling the start of class just as she sits down. 

She doesn't bother listening to the teacher in whatever he was saying; whatever it is isn't necessary, at least not as important as watching Josie from afar. 

Most would think watching someone any time they could and listening to their heartbeat would be an invasion of privacy. Maybe a bit stalkerish. Whatever you want to call it is probably true, but Hope prefers to keep her sanity. 

This has been a routine of hers for quite a long time, years even. Josie would do her own thing, and Hope wouldn't be able to keep her eyes off of the gorgeous brunette.

In class, she would listen to the steady beat of her heart and breath in her scent. Most of the time, it kept her wolf from going crazy, kept it at ease enough, and calmed Hope down. 

Josie's scent today has the opposite effect; rather than putting Hope at ease, it makes her feel more on edge, like a coiled spring ready to snap. 

She closes her eyes and tries to calm herself as the class drones on, tries not to bring attention to the fact that her claws have begun to come out. 

'Why the hell is she losing control?'

Hope can get some form of control over her wolf, just enough where she's not in danger of snapping. 

That lasts until she sees Josie shift in her seat and run her hand through her hair. Hope unconsciously smells the air and catches more of Josie's scent, her shampoo something like strawberry. 

They still have ten minutes left of class, and she's ready to do something. She's not exactly sure what that something is, but her wolf is ready. 

Her wolf once again is on edge with no end in sight. She's all but ready to leave and storm out, getting as far away from Josie as she can. She's afraid her wolf will force her to do something like go over and actually talk to the tall brunette. 

That thought is terrifying; the few times she had done that filled with awkward conversation before Hope had run away and brooded for the next couple of hours. 

Five minutes left. She could make that. 

Josie shifts in her seat once again, pausing to adjust her hand and stops taking the last bit of notes the teacher had written. 

She stretches her arm behind her back and makes the smallest of noises as she stretches, setting Hope on fire. 

Fuck, she needs to get out of here. 

She counts the seconds and already has her things packed away. While the teacher says something about a test later on, Josie's gaze shifts behind her and catches Hope's. 

They lock eyes for an intense three seconds before the bell goes off, and Hope is out of the door, frantically walking away. 

In those three seconds, Hope could make out the furrow in Josie's brow. Her eyes were so brown and full that Hope could get lost in them. 

Great. Now she just sounds slightly pathetic. Pining after someone she'll never have, getting lost in their eyes. What is this, a poorly written fanfiction? 

Hope rolls her eyes and pushes past the students trying to get to their next class, having one destination. She doesn't pay them much mind considering most of them must see the mood she's in and get out of her way quickly. 

She only has one more class for the rest of the day, but first, she has a free period for the next hour. 

She has no real reason to go to the library at this time, but it always is an excellent choice to get away from everyone. 

Her wolf is fighting her hard today and refusing to give up anything without a fight. The past few weeks have left Hope feeling disoriented and irritable... well, more irritable than usual. 

She often found herself getting pissed off at other students and snapping at them. Most steered clear from her path on a good day. 

She makes it to the library relatively unscathed and goes way back to the far right side of the library. 

This area was always her favorite as it had a nice little table, perfect for spreading out and hiding her away from others. 

It also had some books she enjoyed reading out of when she was feeling up to it. 

This section held many books about soulmates and explained what they are. 

Hope finds herself grabbing one of the books she's read a few times before. She opens a random page of the book up and skims over a few passages, 

Soulmates don't happen often, or at least there's not enough scientific evidence to support the theory. Because not everyone had one and they weren't usually found, most people thought they were a hoax.

If she hadn't had felt as strongly as she did about Josie, she probably would have thought it was a hoax as well. 

She finally settles on one specific passage.  _ "As the soulmates grow older, the pull becomes even stronger." _

She growls low at that; of course, the pull would grow stronger as they got older. She had half an idea formed as to why she was so touchy on Josie's scent, the other girl wasn't sixteen yet, but her birthday was coming up soon. Less than a few months away. 

Hope sighs and places her head on the bookshelf in front of her. She continues skimming before another sentence catches her eye, 

_ "Fighting against the bond can harm both parties involved, both sides will feel an undeniable connection and pull towards the other. One could say it is an inevitable connection." _

Hope lets out a scoff at that, 'an undeniable pull. Bullshit. Josie doesn't feel anything but disdain for her.'

She rolls her eyes once again as she continues to read. Before she can get far, her eyes begin to glow as she smells Josie's sweet scent waft to her nose. 

A growl leaves her throat as her claws begin to push outward from her hand—the telltale signs of the shift ready to happen if she'd let it.

Seeing as she can't get a grip, she opens her eyes and tries to leave, terror at what she would do if she actually ran into the girl that plagued her mind. 

Since fate apparently hates her in every way possible, she does precisely that. 

Hope may be small, but her entire body is hard with an underlying layer of pure muscle. The second she collides with Josie, she almost sends the brunette to the floor. 

Hope's reflexes kick in as she reaches out and catches the other girl by her hips and pulls her upright. She overcorrects too much and sends Josie flying into her. 

Hope keeps her hands on Josie's hips and doesn't allow herself to place them anywhere else, half afraid she'll start kissing the other girl if her wolf has its way.

Josie has one hand on Hope's chest and one arm wrapped around Hope's neck to steady herself. They were both pushed as closely as possible, face to face, chest to chest.

A small gasp escape's the brunette's lips that has Hope shutting her eyes, reveling in the sound. 

When she opens her eyes, Josie gasps again. Hope isn't exactly sure why Josie keeps making sounds that send her mind towards dangerous waters, but she comes to the realization that her eyes must be glowing.

From how close they are, Hope can make out the full pout of Josie's lips and the small freckles that are on her face. She can see the deep wave of brown that looks mesmerizing as Hope stares even further. 

She was so gone for this girl, and the other had no idea.

Once realizing their position, Hope jumps away and lets go of Josie, trying to remember the lost time they had been that close. 

It must have been a long time ago when they were both younger, and the other girl didn't have as much disdain for Hope. Though she never treated Hope like badly, that was more her sister's forte.

"Sorry." Is all Hope says as she quickly tries to leave. She almost makes it before a hand comes out and grabs onto her arm. Gentle, but with force behind it. 

Hope feels a shiver wrack across her body at the touch but manages to hide it well. 

Was she really so touch starved that one touch could send her mind into a haze? 

"Wait, don't go." There's a pleading in the brunette's voice, her hand still on Hope's arm, but looser than before. As if she was expecting Hope to pull away again.

Hope can't stop her gaze from drifting to look at Josie's hand still on her arm, and the electric touch she feels through her long sleeves.

Josie takes her hand away quickly and crosses her arms in front of her stomach. She looks smaller like this, slightly hunched over and avoiding Hope's gaze.

The whole interaction takes only a few seconds, but it feels like an eternity for Hope.

The redhead can still feel her eyes glowing golden rather than her typical blue, her claws have thankfully not come out any more than before. Being so close to Josie is intoxicating, so she's not sure how long she'll last before she needs to leave.

"I wanted to make sure that you were okay. You kind of ran out of class." 

She glances around to make sure no one is around listening before she says the next part. 

"Your eyes have been glowing non stop all day, so I really wanted to check in on you and make sure everything's okay." 

Josie looks down at the ground for most of her sentence, but in the end, her eyes stray up to look at Hope. 

A small part of her mind wonder's how Josie knew that her eyes had been glowing all day, but quickly pushes that away. 

Hope gives her a tight lip smile, uncomfortable under the other's gaze. It's not like she can tell Josie the truth.

'We're soulmates, and my wolf wants to be around you every second of our lives, but I can't allow that. So excuse me while I go shift far away from you before I do something stupid like kiss you.'

Hope refrains from rolling her eyes at herself, not wanting Josie to think it would be directed at her. 

"Thank you for your concern, Josie. I'm fine; It's just been a while since I shifted." She tries for a small bit of truth, wishful thinking that it'll appease the other girl.

Hope nods her head in a weird dismissal and tries to leave but is stopped when Josie steps into her space. 

"Wait, why haven't you shifted?" 

This girl was going to be Hope's death. She could feel the signs of her wolf wanting to break free once again and almost couldn't contain herself in smelling the air. Having Josie so close to her, only a couple feet away from her, was intoxicating and made it entirely harder for her to concentrate. 

"It doesn't matter." Hope has to grit each syllable out slowly, already feeling her canines coming in ready to distort her voice. 

"It does matter, Hope, why haven't you been shifting?" She asks the questions again, and Hope almost growls. Why was Josie asking her this and not letting it go?

"Why do you ask? It's not like you care." 

She regrets the words the second they leave her mouth, especially when she feels a pang of hurt that isn't her own. 

She sighs, ready to apologize when Josie's eyes turn determined. 

"Don't do that with me. What's going on?" 

Hope squeezes her eyes shut once again. "Nothings going on." She turns to walk away and leave, her body tensed and coiled, just waiting to snap. 

"Hope!" The second Josie touches her for the third time that day, Hope's wolf takes control and spins them around. Hope pushes Josie into the bookshelf with her hands raised above her head. 

Hope might be shorter, but she's definitely stronger; she closes her eyes at the gasp that leaves Josie's mouth. 

They only stay like that for a second before Hope gains control and quickly releases the brunette. 

"I.." 

She wants to apologize, but the syllables don't form in her mouth, her throat starting to close. She turns to leave quickly and as fast as possible. 

This time, Josie doesn't stop her. 

The taller girl watches Hope flee and stares after her longingly, watching as she disappears from view. 

She sighs once again and can't stop feeling disappointed at the other girl's dramatic exit. 

She looks down at the book Hope had been reading before she had gotten there, it landed face down. 

Josie picks it up carefully and reads whatever page Hope had been on before they had run into each other. 

_ "When soulmates fight the bond, most often, one or both parties will lose control. This can be seen in wolves, especially, they often are pushed to their base instincts."  _

As Josie reads, her brow furrows, and looks back up to the direction Hope had run away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> Lol I just figured out how to keep italics


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should clarify that this takes place kinda season one at the start, but also this is my own timeline so don't expect too much of canon

The second Hope is out of Josie's vicinity, she punches a wall. She doesn't bother to stop and see the damage though she knows that there's a hole in it. 

A growl erupts from her throat, scaring the already anxious students that are nearby. She rolls her eyes and stalks away from the spot, feeling awfully like a predator stalking its prey. 

Though her wolf unhelpfully reminds her that the only one she wants is Josie. Sweet, kind Josie. 

Her smell was still present in Hope's nose. If she breathed in, she could make out each individual scent. Her wolf was already furious at being pulled away early, but Hope didn't care. 

Regret sat heavily on her mind, a feeling she was all too accustomed to. She makes her way towards the forest, already intent on spending the rest of the day as far away from Josie as possible and maybe calm herself down by shifting. 

She didn't trust herself in the least with how unhinged she's been. Her hand runs furiously through her hair. 

'God, why was she such a mess?' 

She shakes her head and trudges forward outside of the Salvatore doors. Most students are in class, so few had been mulling around the halls. 

She doesn't even get within the edge of the forest before her phone begins to vibrate, signaling a call. 

She's already impatient and ready to let herself be free, definitely not in the mood to talk to anybody.

Unfortunately, there are only like three people who have called her in the last year, one of them being their resident principal, Alaric Saltzman. 

"What?" Sure she could be nicer when she answers the phone, but where's the fun in that.

"Hope, we have another monster sighting in town. Where are you?" 

She could almost cry from frustration. Her eyes drift over to the tree line in yearning, wishing to be free and not handle another thing. 

She sighs with one last look towards the trees and turns around, walking back to school. 

"I'm heading towards the school. I'm in the mood to punch something."

-

Alaric and Hope arrive back at the Salvatore school late in the night. Whatever creature they had fought had been able to be taken down by brute force, which Hope was all for. 

The edge from before had been taken off slightly; her impulse to hunt and kill had died down minutely. 

Bloodlust sated when she sunk her fangs deep within the neck of the creature until it had stopped squirming. It had felt far too good to kill. 

That was a side of Hope that worried her. How dark her thoughts could get and how much she had enjoyed the hunting and killing of whatever was in her way. 

She's almost afraid one day she'll turn into her father. Killing thousands without a thought, for the thrill, the fun of it all. 

What brings her out of her haze of thoughtless murder is always the same person, the same thing: Josie. 

There was something deeply seated inside Hope that knew, if she ever started going down that path, Josie wouldn't be able to follow. She's not even close to Josie and has no plans to become close, but she will not jeopardize the girl's safety under any circumstances. 

Whenever her thoughts turn a little too dark, a bit too bitter, she always imagines Josie's face. Her smile, how she would taste if Hope kissed her pouty lips, all of it brings her back to her humanity. 

She shakes her head, trying to get the thought of Josie's lips off her mind. It's a pointless act considering she's never been able to get Josie off her mind ever, but she tries anyway. 

"I'm going to go for a run," Hope says, waiting for Alaric to reply. 

"Keep away from the old mill. There's a party there tonight that I'm going to be shutting down soon." 

Hope grunts in confirmation before walking away. She's almost confused at hearing about the party for the first time, but then remembers she's an outsider and doesn't have any friends. 

She wonders briefly if Josie is at the party. 

'No. You are not going to go check on her.' Hope sends a warning growl to herself, her already frayed self-control being tested by the thought of seeing the brunette. 

She can feel her wolf come alive again at the thought of the siphon witch and struggles to regain control. In the past, the amount of interaction she had received from Jossie that day alone would have been enough to satisfy her wolf for a week. Now, it barely satisfied her at all.

Josie was a drug, and Hope a hopeless addict. Pun intended.

She's deep in thought, walking into the forest unsure of where she's actually going. The woods are familiar to her, so she lets her mind wander as her body takes her away.

The wind rustles the leaves and the trees, cold air touching her skin. 

She hears all the noises around her, such as the animals nestling in for the night. A small part of her wanted to go and hunt a deer or another animal. It had definitely been far too long since she had shifted. 

When the sound of laughter and music touch her ears, it stops Hope in her tracks. She looks around again in confusion about where she's at and sees the trail leading to the old mill.

She curses silently to herself at not even being aware that she was walking here.

'Would it really be a big deal if I went in and saw her?' She hesitates. Rationally she knows she can't see Josie or go to the party at all, but the other side of her yearns to just get a glimpse of her love. 

'Just for a minute. Not a second more. Just to make sure she's okay.' 

Her wolf howls inside of her in delight as Hope takes a step forward. The mill comes entirely in sight a few steps later, her anxiety increasing the closer she gets. 

She avoids the main entrance as most people would see her and goes around the back. She doesn't get closer than the tree line, still standing back. With so many people present, it is impossible to find Josie from hearing her or smelling her. 

Hope gets frustrated with the music and not having sight of Josie, so she stalks forwards and steps into the old mill instead of outside. 

She knows her eyes have been glowing nonstop, has been since she entered the forest. People around her don't pay her any attention. Their focus is on grinding against a partner or talking to a friend. 

She's beyond thankful for that since she can entirely focus on searching for Josie. Closing her eyes and trying to listen to her heartbeat does nothing with how loud the music is and everyone around. A growl almost leaves her lips in anger.

A deep wave of hurt and jealousy hit her, feelings that cause her to scowl. They are not her emotions, so they must be what Josie is feeling. She looks around and sees someone that makes her stop walking.

Penelope Park, pushed against a wall while another girl kisses her on her neck, is only ten feet away from where Hope stands. 

She continues to watch for a moment, seeing that Penelope's attention is not on the girl kissing her but staring across the room. 

Hope follows her gaze and finds Josie staring on with thinly veiled anger. Hope nearly growls as she sees precisely what Penelope is doing to Josie. 

'How dare she play with Josie's feelings like this? She already broke Josie's heart.'

To say Hope was angry at Penelope would be an understatement. She has half a mind to walk over to the girl and fight her, purely in the name of Josie's honor but thinks better of it. 

She looks back up to where Josie had been and is shocked at seeing the brunette not be where she was prior. The wave of hurt she felt had amplified, and she could tell Josie was in pain. 

Hope walks fast to where she had last seen Josie and continues to look around the sea of people. Her eyes land on a retreating form of brunette hair walking away. 

She follows after in hopes of it being the one she is looking for. 

The girl keeps walking away, unaware that she is being followed. Once outside the mill, it is easier to see the girl and confirm that it is Josie. 

As the music begins to drift away, Hope listens to the thudding of Josie's heartbeat. 

Over the years, she had learned exactly what each beat of Josie's heart meant, memorizing it and analyzing it. It held a different speed when she was happy, angry, sad…

Right now, it is rapidly thudding hard; with the mix of emotions Hope feels from Josie, she observes the girl. 

She's glad that they have left the party, now no one is around. Josie keeps walking away, her back towards Hope, and the redhead should have really thought through her plan. 

Now that she found Josie, she should leave, walk away and maybe watch from a distance to make sure she made it back to the dorms. 

'That was enough, right?'

She swallows her own guilt that was forming deep in the pit of her throat. She wasn't going to leave Josie alone in her sadness; Hope couldn't do that to her love.

'Love? Is this what that is? Helpless pining and wanting…'

Before Hope can decide what exactly she wants to say to Josie, a voice echoes through the trees.

"You can stop following me, you know." 

The unexpected voice causes Hope to stutter in her step and stop walking entirely.

Her body freezes as Josie looks back at her, not fully turned.

Hope stays frozen, as if Josie may be some dinosaur that can only see movement, so she remains absolutely still. 

"I'm not following you." 

Wow, that was stellar conversation skills—Hope, well done. 

Josie's scoff is answering enough that she doesn't believe her. She doesn't say anything else, though, and takes another step forward. 

Josie doesn't walk in a straight line but wobbles just enough that Hope catches on. 

'Had Josie been drinking? How much has she had..?'

No answer comes, only another wobbly step as whatever Josie had tonight begins to kick in. 

Hope continues to walk forward to catch up to the taller girl; being short sucked, especially when trying to keep up with a taller person. 

"Are you okay?" Hope appearing right next to her must startle Josie. She jumps and almost falls over. 

Hope's arm is around the girl's waist, steadying her before she even can comprehend what she is doing. 

Josie has her eyes closed, shut tightly as if deep in thought. Hope's mind flashes back to earlier today when she had Josie pinned and had been this close to her. She hadn't had any time to observe the beautiful girl in her arms, had been too hyped up on adrenaline and anxiety. 

Now it was almost too perfect of an opportunity to pass up. So Hope looks over Josie's face, eyes trailing across every inch of the girl. 

They say that most things that are beautiful are only that way from a distance. That once you gain a closer look at the object of your affection, it becomes tainted or less pretty. That couldn't be farther from the truth with Josie.

Each little freckle scattered across her face and every little bit of Josie made Hope's heart soar. The taller girl was every bit as gorgeous up close as she was from a distance, and Hope was basking in every second of getting to experience it this close.

She should have realized that she hadn't said anything for too long or that Josie hadn't replied. After what feels like forever and no time at all, Josie's eyes flutter open and stare directly into Hope's.

A deep brown meets a golden yellow. They stay locked into place without moving, their gaze not straying from each other; Hope can feel her breath hitch and taken away from her as Josie's stare continues to look deep into her soul.

"Thank you, Hope." There's too much emotion in Josie's words for it to be a simple thank you. Too much emphasis. Hope has to force her eyes to stay open and not flutter shut at Josie's voice saying her name. It makes her feel weak.

They are still standing close to each other, Josie tucked into Hope's arm. Hope would say she had forgotten how close they were, but it was the one thing on her mind, the electric current running through both of them like a static touch. It felt so right being this close to Josie. 

Hope clears her throat, and with much reluctance, steps away from the other girl. Only a few steps, but it feels like an entire canyon. 

Josie's eyes glaze over; she seems unfocused now, taking another step forward before almost falling again. Hope is there instantly, hands on the girl's hips, and fits perfectly into her side. 

"Come on, Jo, let's get you to bed."

The brunette doesn't argue, simply follows Hope lead as the shorter girl takes most of her weight with the arm along her waist. 

Hope has half a mind to carry Josie bridal style but refrains, not quite sure how the girl would react. Her wolf, who has been mysteriously quiet this entire encounter, other than the ever-present glow of her eyes, seems to think that it's a great idea to carry Josie. 

An image of Hope carries Josie up to the bed and being able to stay with her, undressing her, being able to kiss her. The mere thought of it was overwhelming. 

They make fairly good progress considering Hope is practically carry the other girl, Josie still is walking, but she is leaning almost all of her weight onto Hope. Not that Hope notices with her super-strength. 

Finally, they're inside the Salvator school, heading past the doors and making their way towards the dorms. 

Josie has been far too quiet, staring at Hope and barely paying attention to where they are going, only observing the side of Hope's face. Trusting that Hope is going to take care of her.

A growl almost leaves her throat at the thought. She would always take care of Josie.

Within a few more minutes and some slight struggle with the stairs, Josie offering no help in maneuvering her body whatsoever, that Hope gets fed up and proceeds to lift the girl off her feet.

Hope's wolf releases a pleased purring sound when Josie burrows her face into Hope's neck. The redhead has to take a second to get used to the sensation. She had never had Josie this close to her; it felt right and so perfect. 

The twin's door is unlocked, making Hope's job of opening it easier since her hands are full with one-half of the siphoner twins. 

She places Josie gently onto her bed and tries to step back but is stopped by the arms around her neck. Josie stays where she is, her nose trailing a path from Hope's ear to her throat, causing another purr to be released. She can feel herself flush and heat up at the touch. 

She gently pries Josie off of her and keeps her at a distance. If she looks closely enough, Josie seems to be wearing a small smirk, looking far too pleased with herself. 

Hope's not exactly sure what she needs to do now but runs to grab a cup of water from the bathroom. She doesn't know if the twins have any drugs for headaches, figuring Josie will have a killer hangover tomorrow.

"Here, Jo, drink this." The brunette listens and does as asked, handing Hope the cup when she's done. 

Josie is mostly quiet a good portion of the time, wanting to listen to others than talk herself, but how quiet she's being is unnerving to Hope.

"I'm going to head out, okay? do you need anything before I go?" 

Josie shakes her head, only staring up at Hope with those doe eyes and a slight pout on her lips. 

Hope nods and takes a step towards the door, eyes still on Josie. 

"Hey, Jo? about what happened earlier today... I'm sorry." Hope swallows hard as she watches Josie, waiting for a response of some sort. Josie reaches out for her, her palm facing up for Hope to grab. 

She intertwines their fingers together and squeezes, a smile on her face. Hope, before she can lose the nerve, leans forward and kisses the top of Josie's forehead, her lips lingering for a moment. 

"Good night Jo." with that said, Hope flees the room, away from facing the full extent of her feelings or Josie's gaze that seems to look directly into her soul. 

Flees to her room as quickly as possible to avoid any other confrontation. She's in front of her mirror, staring at herself, her eyes have yet to stop glowing yellow, and she forgets the entire reason why she was out was to shift. But for the first time in weeks, it feels like her wolf is sated.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a flashback type of thing, Hope is 14 and Mg is 12, cause I think he's the same age as the twins(?) Oh well, whatever, we're going to forget that vampires can't age because I wanted a little Hope and little Mg interacting. so once again, screw canon

"What are you doing?"

Hope can feel her entire body stop and freeze at the voice. She's already unstable with her spot perched on top of the counter. She reaches her arms out for the top of the fridge. Hope had to get on her tiptoes to even see over the top. Let alone reach what was up there.

Mg stands not five feet away, staring up at her; he's thrumming his hands on his thigh and moving his feet back and forth as if he doesn't want to stand still. 

"Nothing." 

Hope is obviously doing something, in the process of doing something, but she doesn't want the boy to ask her anything else. 

He was one of the worst people to have found her. The only one worse would have been  _ Josie. _

While easily distracted, the boy couldn't keep a secret to save his life, let alone a secret from his best friend. 

"Well, it sure looks like something. Can I help?" He smiles wide and takes a step forward. Hope goes to tell him, no, but with how high up on the counter she was, had already disturbed her balance. 

She wobbles for a second before Mg uses his vamp speed to come steady her. At least that would have happened if he had full control over his powers and speed. 

Hope caught herself with a hand on the fridge just as Mg smacked full force into the counter, knocking himself backward. He lands on the ground in pain. 

Hope stares down at him for a moment. "Are you ok...?" 

He gets up moments later with a smile on his face and shakes his head. "Yeah, I'm all good; that's not the first time that's happened before." 

He laughs, and Hope nods as well, not used to someone interacting with her for so long. 

She looks back towards the fridge and sees the freshly made brownies sitting in a container. 

'Perfect.' 

She leans up and tries to reach them but struggles. She had assumed that Mg would take the hint and leave, but no such luck as he stayed.

"Are you trying to get a brownie before dinner?" 

Hope pauses because technically,  _ yes, _ that is what she's doing, but it's definitely not for her.

There were always freshly made brownies on Tuesday nights for dinner, and they always put them in containers at the top of the fridge, so no kids came and got into them before dinner... exactly what Hope was doing.

"Yes and no." Is all she says; her fingertips are just barely scraping the container, pulling it towards herself.

She's just about got it, too fed up to even think of using magic to help. But she grabs too hard, and the container skids off the fridge and goes hurtling towards the floor. 

Luckily, this time Mg's speed comes in handy as he arrives just under the brownies to catch them before they hit the floor. 

He overcorrects how fast he was going and still managed to slide forward into the fridge again. Hope can't help but laugh at the absurdity of what just happened and how clumsy Mg can be.

The boy begins laughing and shakes it off; he holds it up like a trophy and hands it to the redhead as she makes her way down from the counter.

"Thank you." Is all she says, but Mg smiles a big toothy grin nonetheless. Hope doesn't like many people, but Mg's pretty ok. 

"So all that effort for a brownie? Couldn't you just wait for dinner?" 

He tilts his head in question, and this is what Hope had wanted to avoid. The questions of what she was doing. 

She shrugs her shoulders in response and doesn't give anything else. She opens up the container and grabs two napkins, placing a brownie on each napkin. 

She slides Mg one as his eyes widen. She moves her finger over her lips for him to be quite as if to keep a secret. After she finishes, she stands back up and places the container where she got it. 

Easy and simple. 

Or at least it would have been if Mg had decided to leave after their exchange. He seemed to be under some sort of impression that he and Hope had bonded and followed her. 

He talked the entire time about comic books? Hope honestly couldn't tell you. She had only half-hearted played attention as she thought through her next move. 

She needed to get Mg to leave. A small part of her thought that she should tell the energetic boy to leave her alone, but then another larger piece of herself felt a stab of guilt run through her at the thought.

Sure, she was antisocial, but she wasn't mean about wanting space... at least not to him.

He stood by the library's entrance, and they walked in together; he thankfully read the room and didn't continue talking. 

Hope saw just the person she was looking for. One Josie Saltzman sits in the back at a table surrounded by books. She's deep in focus as she writes notes down in her notebook. 

Hope can't help but stare and watches how the girl bites her lip and sucks it between her teeth as she thinks hard. A small strand of hair is outside of her ponytail and has fallen in her face. Hope wished she'd be able to tuck that strand behind the girl's ear or be the one biting those pouty lips. 

The thought immediately brings red to her cheeks as she looks away quickly. 

"Oh! There's Josie! We should go say hi! Maybe we could do whatever you need to with her!" He's already moving where Josie is and doesn't see the panicked look on Hope's face. 

"Wait, Mg. I have to go... can you give this to Josie..." Hope trails off, not really sure how to phrase the sentence differently. 

"Yeah, I can, but why can't you give it to her? And didn't you need to come here?" He tilts his head and looks curious as she scrambled for a response.

"Yes! I came here for this." She grabs a book off of a random shelf without looking at the title. 

_ "The full moon and how it affects us: a wolves guide to the shift." _ Mg reads the book and looks questioningly at her. 

"I want to be more inclusive in my knowledge. The school doesn't teach us enough about the problems wolves and vampires face." Hope had no idea if Mg would buy whatever excuse was coming out of her mouth, but if he didn't believe her, he didn't say. No one knew she was a Tribrid; they only thought she was a witch. It had to stay that way. 

Her cheeks were red, and she hated that she couldn't just tell him to leave and just give the Brownie to Josie via magic and watch form a distance as Josie noticed it. 

Brownies were one of Josie's favorite desserts. She got one any time she could. On Tuesdays, they were specifically made fresh, so they were always gone as soon as dinner started. 

The last few Tuesdays, Josie was always studying in the library, and Hope remembers seeing how sad she was when there was none left by the time she finally made her way to dinner.

Hope had luckily been able to get a brownie that day as she usually tries to eat dinner as soon as possible so she could leave faster; that time, she had almost been done with her food when she saw Josie's pout. She sent the brownie to Josie and quickly walked away. Not missing Josie's searching as she swiveled around the room. 

Now Mg looked suspicious and wary but didn't say anything else when Hope thrusts the brownie in his hand. He had already scarfed his down on the way over. 

"Can you give this to Josie... please?" 

He watches her with curious eyes. Hope hated how she was revealing too much already. No one could know anything. 

"Why can't you give it to her yourself?" 

_ 'Why does he keep questioning me?' _

"Please, Mg, just do it. And don't tell her it's from me..." 

This time he accepts and takes the chocolate brownie from her. 

"Promise me you won't tell her it's from me... ok?" 

He still looks wary, but less so now. "Ok, I promise." 

He walks away soon after and heads straight to where Josie is. She hugs the boy and looks shocked and then delighted when he hands her the brownie. 

Hope wished she could feel the girl's arms around her as well, but convinces herself that she's content.

Hope can't help but feel the flutter of adoration flood through her at Josie's smile. She'd do anything to keep it in place. Hope observes for a few more seconds as Josie takes her first happy bite.

She has a strong sense to skip dinner and lock herself away in her room once again tonight. She could feel Josie's emotions right then and knew the other girl was shocked and happy all at once. 

She could be content with this. Loving from a distance could work. It would have to work. 

With a last look at the pair, Hope walks away.


	5. Chapter 5

Josie wakes up in bed with her mouth feeling like it was filled with cotton. Her head is pounding in a way that makes it hard to think straight.

_ 'I am never drinking again.'  _ is her first coherent thought she can make as she lays her body back down on the bed. 

There's no way that she will listen to that statement, give it another party, and she'll be drinking to forget her sorrows soon enough. 

' _ As long as I don't turn out like dad…' _

Josie begins to sit up and get out of bed, her only goal of getting water and some form of drugs that can take away the pounding headache she feels. As she steps on the ground, she looks to her nightstand and sees a cup of water with some white pills sitting next to it on a piece of paper.

She grabs the paper and scans it.

_ Hope you don't have a bad headache, feel better _ .

_ Hope _

A smile graced her lips as she read it over a few more times. 

A memory from the night before comes back to her.

Hope helping her to her room, staying with her, taking care of her. A warmth fills her stomach at the thought and darkens her cheeks in a blush. She also remembers her drunk self being  _ very _ touchy with Hope as well.

The details are fuzzy with how much she drank, but she can remember Hope's lips on her forehead and the soft goodbye. 

Josie moves to where her dresser is and opens the smallest drawer there. When she does, she finds dozens of small pieces of paper and objects from years before; everything is something Hope had gotten for her over the years. 

She places the newest note on the rest, sitting down as she does. There are letters, poems, and a small jacket that brings back a memory from years ago, one she could never forget about.

The jacket was a black zip-up hoodie with the words New Orleans on it. Josie had grown out of it long ago; she had cried for weeks because she could no longer wear it, the sleeves too short and the jacket unable to zip. She had worn it until the cuffs were frayed, and there were holes in the sweater. 

She had almost had a panic attack when Lizzie threatened to throw it away. At the time, Josie didn't understand why she had such a reaction to her sister's words about the sweater, but in retrospect, she knows it's because Hope had given it to her. 

There has always been something about the redhead that has drawn Josie to her. She still didn't understand it, but it seemed that Hope knew exactly what was going on inside her mind. Josie hated being that exposed to someone who always seemed unreadable. 

Though that wasn't true, Hope just wanted people to think she was unreadable. The lone wolf without a pack, the witch without a coven; The elusive tribrid, the only one of her kind. 

Josie couldn't even get the girl out of her head; even on the best of times, she was always in the background, tormenting the siphoner.

Josie hated how she felt, but at the same time couldn't truly hate it, there was so much about herself she didn't understand, but one thing was for sure; Hope Mikaelson would always consume her thoughts.

She held the fabric of the sweater in her palms and traced over the words. She remembers distinctly the day she had gotten this, the day Hope had given it to her. 

She breathes in the scent of the old sweater that's filled with dust and a musty smell after years without use. The scent of Hope long gone.

Memories of that night flashback to the brunette; she had only been nine, while Hope had been eleven. It had been before when Josie would almost have called Hope a friend, back when she allowed herself to talk to other people. 

Josie had been running as fast as her little legs would carry her. Tears streamed down her face staining her cheeks; she continued to wipe her face with her hands. 

Her first instinct was to run to her room and cry, but that's where she had come from. 

Once again, their mom wasn't coming for their birthday. She was too busy with work and recruiting... Josie got it, she did, but not having Caroline there time and time again made it hard on both Lizzie and her.

Alaric was comforting Lizzie and her inevitable breakdown. Their dad was gone most of the time, dealing with other students, trying to run the school... 

Josie just felt so entirely lonely.

Mom was gone. Dad's focus elsewhere. Lizzie was struggling with her mental health. Everything felt out of control, leading Josie to feel helpless. 

She finally makes her way to the dock, standing at first just watching the moon cast a shadow on the lake. 

She wasn't supposed to be out this late at night, especially with no adult supervision, but for once, Josie couldn't bring it in herself to care. 

The winter months were coming, a frost had already overtaken the grass, and soon with another month or two, the lake would be frozen over. Josie loved winter; it was one of her favorite times of the year.

A shiver wracks across her body as she brings her arms closer to herself, trying to get warm. She contemplated starting a fire, but her dad had always told her to never do fire spells without supervision.

She wanted to set something on fire. Maybe it would take away the pain that sits low in her stomach.

_ 'Maybe just a small spell...' _

"Are you cold?" 

The voice causes Josie to spin around in fright, her heart beating rapidly. She calms a little bit as she sees exactly who the intruder is 

"Hope." She can't help but send a small smile; the other girl didn't start conversations with Josie, usually keeping to herself and away from others. 

But Josie tried, she really did. 

Josie had been told she's likable, almost able to get anyone to at least smile at her in passing. 

Hope didn't usually say anything to Josie, but she was always helping her in some way.

Hope was different than most people at the school; she was quiet, kind, and noble. So noble and brave. 

Josie blushed when she realized she was openly staring at Hope without saying a word. 

"Hi." She tries to smile and grin as she usually does for others, but her heart's not in it. She's still sad and doesn't feel like putting up a facade. 

"Are you cold?" Is all Hope says as she takes another step forward, repeating her earlier question.

Josie is about to deny it, but a shiver runs through her entire body, the wind picking up and chilling her to her core. 

"No." her teeth are chattering now, and she's pretty sure Hope can hear it. 

The redhead rolls her eyes and wordlessly takes her jacket off of her self and walks over to Josie. She puts the black zip-up over Josie's shoulders, helping the brunette place it onto her arms. She doesn't stop there but instead helps it up for Josie once it's on. 

"Thank you, Hope." She shyly says this, feeling a blush overtake her face when Hope steps even closer. 

The other girl's hand comes up to caress Josie's cheek, her thumb swiping the stray and slightly dry tears that had fallen earlier. 

"Are you okay?" 

The whispered words do nothing but cause butterflies to flutter through her stomach. Josie can't help but lean into the touch bringing her own hand up to touch Hope's, keeping it in place. 

"I will be." 

Hope accepts that as an answer and steps back. Josie already misses the warmth. 

Both girls sit down at the dock together, sitting shoulder to shoulder.

"Thank you for this, Hope." 

She turns towards the other girl and smiles; Hope smiles as well. A genuine grin makes Josie feel warm. 

Feeling courageous, Josie leans over and links Hope's and her hand together. She looks away to hide her blush; she can feel Hope watch her but keeps her gaze overlooking the lake.

They stay like that until Hope walks Josie back to her room after an hour on the lake. Josie had been cold, even with Hope's sweater, and the other girl could tell, forcing them to walk back. 

Their hands stay intertwined the entire walk to Josie's and Lizzie's room. When they stand in front of the door, Hope squeezes Josie's hand one last time, then leans forward and presses her lips to Josie's cheek.

"Goodnight, Josie." 

"Goodnight, Hope." 

Josie remembers how warm Hope's lips had felt, how that was her first kiss technically. It felt surreal and she felt warm. 

  
  
  
  
  


"Why do you keep that old raggedy sweatshirt? It doesn't even fit you." 

Josie almost jumps at her sister's interruption from her thoughts and the memory she was reliving. She holds the sweater closer to her chest, half afraid her sister would take it and throw it away. 

That's something about Lizzie that has always been hard to navigate; she's either oblivious of most things or painfully perceptive. 

"Sentimental value." is all Josie can supply Lizzie with. She folds the sweater up and places the worn and torn fabric into the dresser away from her sister's prying eyes.

Luckily, Lizzie takes that as an answer and doesn't press further. 

One thing Josie is for sure of, she is going to force Hope to talk to her, force her to explain what is going on with them. What has been going on with them their entire lives. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been a crazy busy the past week so the next updates for my other fics might be delayed a bit, but I'll get them out as soon as I can =)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was beta'd by my amazing beta surprisedMe!! So shout out to them for catching my mistakes!! 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy!

Hope takes a deep breath and takes in the air. She's in the common room now, contemplating going to her next class. 

She shares it with Josie, so Hope is very motivated to skip the class altogether. 

She breathes again, trying to get a hold of Josie's scent just in case the other girl is nearby, and she needs to flee at a moment's notice. 

No. 

Not flee… just walk away in the other direction. 

Hope Mikaelson is not a coward and doesn't  _ flee _ .

Not from anything or anyone. 

"Hope!" 

The redhead turns as a head of black curly hair makes its way into her sight. 

"Landon." He smiles that grin she was all too familiar with, and an unfamiliar warmth settles inside of her. It's been a long time since she's glad someone sought her out. 

She can feel herself smiling back an actual genuine smile.

She feels a stab of jealousy run through her and rolls her eyes. 

_ Penelope Park and her infamous ways to make people jealous. _

She has half a mind to leave the conversation and find Josie. But that would defeat the entire purpose of avoiding the brunette.

She wonders what Penelope is doing to make Josie jealous, probably making out with some other person. She nearly growls at the thought. 

Landon continues to talk to her, and Hope finds herself smiling again. 

The past few weeks have seen Landon acclimating to the school, along with Rafael. They had been accepted well by the other students, even Hope. Though she still keeps both at arm's length.

Here at the school, Landon's still trying to figure out his place, forcing Hope to act as some sort of protector for him. 

Landon reminds her of what once was and could have been.

Hope tunes back into the conversation with Landon; he's going off about something that Hope isn't quite sure of but tries to listen anyway. 

That all stops when a drift of vanilla reaches her nose. 

She freezes once again and tries to subtly look around. Josie was somewhere nearby, and she had to avoid the brunette.

Especially since she made a fool of herself the other night by kissing Josie's forehead. If she was lucky, Josie had been too drunk and blacked out that she had even seen Hope. 

However, that can't be the case since Josie has not stopped trying to track Hope down. Whether moments after classes or in the dining hall, she even went to Hope's room, the redhead had to jump out of the window to avoid her.

She tries to look around but feels a jab of jealousy once again hitting low in her stomach. 

She sees movement out of the corner of her eye and sees Josie making her way towards Hope and Landon now. 

She looks pissed.

_ Shit. _

The words tactical retreat float to her mind as she quickly cuts Landon off on whatever he had been talking about. 

Ewoks? 

"Hey Lan, I'm sorry to cut you off, but I really have to go. I'll talk to you later." She doesn't let him reply as Josie is almost to them now. 

She practically runs out of the room, getting weird looks from some students who had been standing around. 

She doesn't see Josie, nor does she look around as she proceeds to run away. There is no way she can go to class now. 

As she's running, she sees one Penelope park in her class looking bored during a lecture. The class was on the opposite side of the school, meaning the opposite side away from Josie.

There was no way she could be sitting in class now and making Josie jealous not five minutes earlier. 

Hope frowns but keeps walking fast. 

_ I wonder what Josie was jealous of... _

\---

She successfully avoids Josie for the rest of the day. The following day as well. 

That was less of a choice, and more that she had to monster hunt with Alaric; they left during the morning and hadn’t got back till later in the evening. 

She wasn't tired though anxiety kept her awake and alert. She hadn't seen Josie in over 24 hours, and she couldn't stand it. 

She contemplated going to the twins' room just to see Josie but really didn't feel like being yelled at by Lizzie at the moment. 

A growl almost leaves her throat. Alaric is still talking, and she stopped listening minutes ago.

What is he even talking about?

Whatever it is, it's probably not important.

"I'm going to go for a run." 

She probably should feel bad for cutting him off, but he had been nearing the end of whatever he had to say.

He rubs his eyes, looking tired as she does, but nods his head regardless. 

They say goodbye as Hope turns towards her room to get a change of clothes. The ones she's currently wearing are drenched with monster blood. 

She gets to her room quickly and strips out of her old clothes. She heads out within minutes and begins walking out of the school towards the forest. She gets close to leaving out the doors, but a voice stops her. 

"Hope?" She immediately freezes at the sound of Josie's voice calling out to her; it looked like Josie was coming from the kitchen area. 

Seeing that there was no way to avoid this confrontation, Hope turns towards the other girl. 

"Hey, Josie." Hope stops moving as her eyes trail over Josie's form. She is wearing adorable pajamas with little cats on them; Hope can't help but find the brunette even more precious.

"Hope, I've been wanting to talk to you for a while now."

Hope looks away, trying to not meet Josie's eyes. She doesn't want the other girl to see the guilt flash through them.

"Sorry. I've been busy."

She tries to keep her voice clipped, trying to end the conversation. Hope may have been desperate to see Josie, but that doesn't mean she can allow herself to interact with the other girl. 

Josie's face falls as the smile she previously wore goes away. Hope curses herself for being the cause of that. 

Her wolf fights against the holds she usually has on it, trying to get out. Hope almost growls at the sudden exertion of fighting against herself. 

Her eyes must flash yellow because Josie takes a step back, looking a little worried. 

"Can we talk later? I really need to go right now." Hope tries to end the conversation once again. Anger buries itself deep into her stomach, confusing her, the anger coming from Josie rather than her. 

"No. We need to talk now." The adorable pout of Josie's lips is more prominent as she frowns. Hope wishes she could be the one biting it and kiss the pout away. 

"I'm sorry Josie, I have to go." 

Hope turns her back towards the other girl and forces her legs to move as she walks out of the doors. Her first instinct is to head to the forest, far away from the siphoner. Hope gets far enough away before she hears the other girl chase after her. 

"Hope! Stop walking away from me!" Josie is running after Hope, who is almost to the edge of the forest. 

Josie, as a last-ditch effort, grabs Hope's hand and pulls her around to face her, but Hope's strength makes her lurch forward into the redhead instead.

That does get Hope to stop walking; her hand rests on the brunette's hip, steadying her, and the other still clutches her hand. 

Their eyes meet, and for a second, the world stops.

Unfortunately, Josie realizes the position they're in and pulls away from Hope as if she was shocked with electricity.

The Tribrid looks at Josie expectantly, her arms crossed over her chest with an unamused expression. 

The taller girl scowls and matches Hope's position of her arms crossed.

"No, you don't get to be mad at me." 

The redhead glares but stops herself when she feels the wave of anxiety and hurt that is not entirely her own.

She drops the pretenses and becomes more open, glare gone, arms uncrossed.

"Why did you chase after me, Josie?" 

The girl hesitates before answering, a look in her eyes that Hope can't make out.

"I can't keep doing this with you, this give and take. The super nice to me one day and the not acknowledging my existence the next." There's pleading, hinting at the girl's voice.

"It's easier this way." Is all she can get out before a wave of pain courses through her. She doesn't understand because it's not from Josie, it feels different, but she ignores it, regardless of where it came from.

"Easier for who Hope? Me? You? If you hate me, you should just say so and stop sending me mixed signals."

"I could never hate you." 

Josie has tears in her eyes that are starting to make their way down her face. "Then why do you treat me like you can't bear the thought of spending more than one day with me when I'm not sad. Why can't we be friends?"

Hope squeezes her eyes shut. The pain growing more and more, almost unbearable at this point. She can only groan quietly, not letting the feeling show.

"Because it's safer for you to hate me. It's better for everyone if you don't care about me at all."

That's all she can get out before collapsing to her knees. The pain only grows as she can feel her wolf starting to surface. The pain becomes more familiar as the wolf thrashes inside of her. Her eyes turn golden. 

"Hope?! What's wrong? Are you okay?" Josie comes down instantly to where the Tribrid is curled up at. Setting a hand on her shoulder. 

"Josie, you need to get away now!" Her voice is shifting to allow for the canines that are rapidly growing, her voice sounding more animalistic than human. 

Her bones begin to crack and break as she allows herself to embrace the shift and the pain. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, so I'm taking a small hiatus from some of my other fics, trying to get ahead and write them for now, but I'll try to get the next chapters out as soon as possible, school is picking up a lot before the end of the semester so I'll be focusing on homework and finals soon, but once Thanksgiving break/christmas break comes around I can focus more on writing and give you guys semi regular updates 😋 thank you so much for everyone who reads any and all my fics I couldn't have come this far without your guy's support, thanks again! 💙


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wolf Hope has arrived 👀

Josie backs up, not far away, but enough so the wolf can have some space. She closes her eyes, not wanting to see the shift or Hope's bones breaking; hearing it is already enough.

A few minutes pass, and Josie opens her eyes after not hearing bones breaking anymore. There, standing tall where Hope once was, is a beautiful white wolf. 

She's struck by its beauty and doesn't hesitate to take a step forward; the wolf's head snaps up towards her at the sound. The brunette begins to waver and stops her movements. She has nothing to worry about because the second the wolf sees her, it sits down and excitedly shakes its tail.

Her confusion fades and is replaced with a grin when the wolf bounds towards her, sitting at her feet. It nuzzles its nose against her hand and stops expectantly. She slowly moves her hand to its head and scratches once and then twice.

Wolf Hope pushes her head further into Josie's hands, closing her eyes at the feeling. Josie doesn't stop with her administration and continues scratching and petting. 

"Who would have thought you would have been this cute when you're in wolf form. You're like a puppy." She giggles as she says this. Wolf Hope must have some sort of understanding of her words because she growls playfully and knocks Josie down, so she's sitting. Once the brunette is down, she's being licked all over.

Her laugh echoed through the trees, "stop, please!" She's still laughing but trying to also push Hope away to stop the dog slobber.

At her command, the wolf instantly stops, backing away and sitting down in front of her.

"Hope? What happened to you? I don't think you meant to shift…" she trails off, not sure how to finish her question. The wolf's ears twitch at the sound of her name but don't make any indicator that she understood her question.

Josie does glare playfully and only half-joking as she says, "Unless that was your way of getting out of our conversation. Cause don't think for a second Hope Mikaelson that I am done with you." She finishes with a huff and begins to pet the wolf behind her ears once more.

Josie settles more sitting down as Hope lays in front of her; she lays down, so she's on her side, enjoying how Josie is still petting her.

After a few minutes with Josie in her thoughts, wolf Hope stands up and whines, licking at Josie. She trots around her anxiously and doesn't stop whining.

"What's wrong? I don't understand." The wolf trots continuously around her, not stopping but just going in circles. 

Josie stops for a moment and thinks about what Hope could be telling her. "Do you want to go run around? You were coming out here to shift. Do you need to run?" There was a yip in reply that seemed to be in confirmation.

"Go ahead, I'll stay here and wait till you come back, okay? Then we can talk." Wolf Hope yipped again and released a short howl. She ran a few circles around Josie before bolting off into the forest at full speed. 

Hope didn't leave the immediate area but decided to stay almost within a visible distance from Josie. Choosing instead to weave between trees and run up and down. 

After an hour, the wolf seemed to have gotten rid of some of her energy and goes back to Josie, tongue hanging out in a pant. 

Josie is curled up next to a tree; she was doing some homework, a book open, and she's writing things down. She had said a spell that brought her things from her room, a little bit of magic still flooding through her veins. She looks up and smiles when she sees Hope trot up to her.

"Hey, good run?" 

The answering howl makes her chuckle. 

"You should shift back if you're done so we can talk. Is that okay? I have a flannel here to fit you since you tore through your clothes."

She wasn't sure if Hope could fully understand her in this form but took the answering yip and nod as confirmation.

The white wolf trotted behind a tree, and after a few minutes of nothing happening, Josie called out. 

"Hope? You okay?" 

There's no reply, so Josie gets up and slowly walks behind the tree where Hope went. 

She sees a glimpse of white fur crouched down and hears a whimper. She rushes forward. "Hope, hey, what's wrong?" The wolf turns its head towards the noise, eyes bright and golden.

There's another whimper. "Can you not shift back?" Hope shakes her head back and forth in an awkward motion, pawing at the ground.

"Okay, why don't you wait at the old mill, and I'll go get my dad?" She kneels low next to the wolf and reaches out a hand to pet behind her ears.

The answering whine makes her want to help alleviate some of the anxieties. "Shh baby, it's okay, we'll figure this out." She doesn't realize the name slip up but figures that Hope probably can't understand her much in this form anyway, so she should be fine. 

After she's sure Hope's calmed down, she goes to stand up and leave, and Hope stands up as well, trotting along the side of her. 

"Hope, I'm going back to school. You can't come with me right now. Go wait for me at the old mill." She points to the direction that it should be in and waits for Hope to trot off. 

The Tribrid only jogs anxious circles around Josie, refusing to leave her side. She can only sigh and continue walking.

"Dad is going to kill me for letting you on campus like this. You better not maim anyone." 

They continue walking until they reach the school's front since it was almost night out, there wasn't anybody around outside.

When they step through the door, Josie instantly heads to where Alaric's office is. A few students are walking by, staring at her in question and a bit of concern when they see the white wolf walk beside Josie. She can only wave them off and smile sheepishly.

When they finally arrived, Josie knocked 

on the door and walked in, figuring whatever her dad was working on could wait. If not for Josie, then for Hope. 

"Josie? What are you..." 

He's sitting at his desk surrounded by books. He seems to be researching something, his eyes blurry and red from lack of sleep. Or maybe alcohol. At this point, she couldn't really tell anymore. 

He had stopped talking when Hope walked into the room. She sits next to Josie, tongue out panting, letting herself be observed by Alaric. 

"Hope?" His brow furrows, he comes around his desk and looks to get closer, cautious eye on the wolf before his gaze turns to Josie.

"What happened?" 

Josie takes a deep breath before she begins. 

"I'm not really sure, Hope and I were talking, and all of a sudden she was on the ground in pain, and then the next thing I knew, she was shifted into her wolf form. She tried to change back but was unable to, so we came here." 

Alaric blinks as he takes in the information; he stares at Hope as if willing her to shift back and be human again. 

"Let me do some research on this tonight, and we can get some sort of plan tomorrow. Hope's family might know something about this, so I can contact them tomorrow as well. Until then, we need to keep an eye on Hope and make sure she doesn't hurt anybody. We don't know how much control she has right now." 

Josie looks down at Hope, sitting on her foot, her tail wagging back and forth when Josie looks down at her. 

"I don't think her hurting anyone is going to be a problem. She can stay with Lizzie and me until we figure this out." 

Her dad rubs his eyes and sighs deeply, "Thank you, Josie. Come by in the morning before classes, and I'll see what we can find out by then." 

Josie nods as well and takes that as her leave. The wolf and the girl walk out of Alaric's office, shutting the door quietly as they do. 

"What are we going to do with you?" Josie says it with a hint of exasperation in her voice.

Josie heads to her room with Hope dutifully trailing behind her. There's still a wag in her step, making the brunette wonder why the wolf is so happy. She's glad that Hope is happy but wishes to see her human form.

She honestly hopes Lizzie isn't in their room and is somewhere else, but she'll be surprised if her sister isn't there with the way her luck is going.

When they make it into her room, she opens the door, so Hope can go through along with her. 

Lizzie is on her phone spread out on her bed; she looks up as she sees Josie and Hope. Confusion crosses her face.

"What the hell is that?" 

Josie can only sigh as the headache worsens. "A wolf." Said wolf snorts almost human-like and wags her tail back and forth before jumping on Josie's bed.

Both girl's watch the white ball of floof walk in three circles before sitting down curled up.

"Josette, why is there an overgrown hairball lying on your bed as if it lives here?" 

Josie sighs and massages her temples; she hesitates for a moment before answering. "It's Hope." She doesn't stop to elaborate at Lizzie's choked exasperation as she walks across the room, trying to get ready for bed. 

"What are you doing? Why are you acting like having Hope in our room is a normal occurrence. Let alone her sleeping on the bed while she's a dog."

Josie stops from getting her phone charger and looks at the blonde. "I don't really know, Liz. She's stuck in that form and can't go back. She also refuses to leave my side, which in turn means she's sleeping in here tonight."

Lizzie gasps dramatically. "Absolutely not! I will not have her sleep in our room, so close to me. She probably has… fleas." 

Josie rolls her eyes taking a deep breath and counting to ten. She's about two seconds away from snapping but does some breathing exercises to calm herself down. 

She wasn't in the mood to argue with Lizzie, so instead, she relents and still gathers her things. "We'll go sleep in Hope's room then." She goes to the bathroom and brushes her teeth, and makes her way to the door. 

"You coming?" Wolf Hope eyes her as if not wanting to get up but does so, taking her time to stretch out her limbs and jump after Josie. 

She doesn't tell Lizzie goodnight, a bit irritated at her for not letting them stay in their room.

When Josie is almost to Hope's room, she turns the corner and runs straight into one Penelope park, another person she had wanted to avoid. 

"Hey, Jojo. What are you doing in my neck of the woods, here for a visit?" She rolls her eyes and almost replies when Hope makes her way into view and growls quietly at the black-haired girl. 

"Since when do you have a guard dog?" Her arms are crossed as her expression shifts to questioning rather than flirting. 

"She's not my guard dog. Anyway, we need to leave, so if you'll kindly let us pass, that would be great." 

The look Penelope gives is filled with questions; she doesn't step aside but instead leans forward, getting closer to Josie.

"Who is that, Jojo? Why do you have a wolf following you like a lost puppy." 

Before she can answer, Hope jumps and moves to push Penelope out of the way with her snout. When that didn't work, she uses her teeth to grab the shirt to pull her away.

"What are you doing, mutt?" After a moment of struggle, she finally relents with her hands up, Hope, not giving up on the tugging or pulling. "Okay, I get it, calm down you oversized poodle, I'm gone." She does leave with a flip of her hair. Not without telling Josie, "this isn't over. I will get answers out of you, Jojo."

Hope gives a little huff and watches till she walks away. When she no longer sees the other girl, she whips her head back at the sound of Josie's laughter. Wagging her tail, obviously delighted at making the brunette laugh.

"That's definitely one way to get rid of her that I haven't tried. Though if I started to paw at her and yank her shirt away, she'd probably think I was making a pass at her." There's a gleam in her eyes that makes Hope yip excitedly.

Josie shushed her, but there's still laughter in her voice. 

"Come on, wolfie, let's get to bed." She trots next to the tall girl; happily, tail raised as she goes.

They finally get to the room, and Josie has never been more glad that Hope doesn't have a roommate, already enjoying the solitude. She's seen enough people in the past hour, their questions she was unable to answer, not helping. 

She plugs her phone into the wall and has her phone charging before getting under the covers. 

Hope waits till she's tucked in and then jumps up onto the bed next to Josie. 

"Oh no you don't; you are way too big for us to share the bed." 

There's an answering whine from Hope that is all too pitiful. Sighing, she relents and lets Hope stay. "Fine, but I'm going to be so mad at you if you really do have fleas." The answering huff makes her giggle once more before she settles down.

There's movement from the wolf as she gets comfortable on the bed, curling in a circle a few times before settling near Josie's feet. 

The brunette reaches her hand out and slowly pets behind Hope's ears until she feels herself drift off to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was honestly one of my favorite chapters to write


	8. Chapter 8

When she wakes up, Josie half expects Hope to be in human form. Instead, there's a pleasant warmth sitting at her feet, a pressure that she hadn't felt before. 

Her alarm hadn't gone off since she hadn't set one, but she woke up earlier than she had anticipated. 

Sitting up and stretching her arms her body cracks with each stretch of her joints. The night before comes crashing back down on her as she sees the fluffy wolf sprawled out, taking most of the bottom half of the bed. Josie rolls her eyes at the wolf.

Hope doesn't move but looks at Josie through the corner of her eye, making no attempts to get off Josie's legs. 

"Well, I guess that wasn't a dream, huh?" 

Wolf Hope ignores Josie and rolls over, so she's facing away from the other girl as if the brunette had disturbed her sleep. 

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Am I disturbing you?" There's a sarcastic bite in her voice as she leans over and moves her hand through the thick white fur, loving how soft it feels on her skin. 

She must find a spot that Hope really likes scratched because a moment later, Hope's leg begins to shake and kick back and forth. Josie starts to smile wide at the sight, trying to withhold her giggles.

Wolf Hope isn't bothered in the slightest at the laughter but moves so she's laying on her back, giving Josie a whine to continue petting her. Even going as far as to wiggle back and forth for emphasis. 

Josie laughs again and rubs all over the furry stomach. They stay like that as Josie wakes up fully; while scratching and petting, she looks around the room.

Hope's room is exactly how Josie pictured it in her head. It was a little messy with art supplies cluttering the desk, but as a whole, it was reasonably clean. 

She stops petting Hope and gets a huff in return. Instead of complaining further, the wolf rolls over and curls into a ball once again. 

Josie would naturally feel bad for invading Hope's space without her permission, but she has Hope incarnate lying right next to her, and the wolf doesn't seem to mind. 

She begins to wonder how much control Hope actually has while in this form than when she's human.

Josie gets up from the bed and sees many canvases in the corner, she has a distinct urge to go and look through them, but her guilt stops her. Browsing through Hope's things feels wrong. 

Curiosity does eat at her and a little voice in the back of her mind tries to convince her to look at the paintings.

Shaking her head, she walks over to Hope's bathroom connected to her room, attempting to get ready for the day. 

She forgot to bring clothes and her books for class, so she'll have to run back to her room before Hope, and her go to her dad's office.

She curses her past self for not at least bringing clothes other than her pajamas. She's going to look like she's doing the walk of shame. And to top it all off she'll have Hope, the hyperactive puppy, bounding next to her as she walks.

Hopefully, nobody will see her. 

Once she's as ready as she can be, she goes back to Hope's room to see the wolf sprawled out in the middle of the bed.

"Hope?" 

At the sound of her name she looks up quickly at Josie, her tail begins to wag. 

The sight makes her smile wide at how happy Hope is to see her.

"You all set?" A small yip later, they're out of the room walking down the hall. 

It's still early in the day, so most students are not out walking around yet. Those that are give Josie strange looks when they see a full-sized wolf walking next to her. 

Once they're back to the twins' room, Lizzie is thankfully gone; Josie really didn't want to deal with her sister this early in the morning. 

She gets changed quickly and comes back in to see Hope sleeping on a pile of her clothes that hadn't been washed yet. 

"Hope? What are you doing?" 

The white wolf looks towards her and whines when Josie tries to get her off the clothes. She buries her face further getting her head caught in one of Josie's shirts. 

"Come on, we have to go, ok? Why do you want to sit in a pile of my laundry?" 

Hope huffs at her and just burrows further into the pile. 

"Hope, we really need to get you back to your human form." 

Another whine causes Josie to sigh loudly. She tries to think about why Hope would want her clothes. 

_ Wolves and dogs smell at a much higher rate than humans do. _

She looks over to where her scarves are hung up that she usually wears during the winter months. The further it's been getting in the school year, the more she wears them. 

"Ok, I think I have an idea." 

A few minutes later, they both are leaving the room and heading towards Alaric's office. 

One is wearing the standard school uniform, and the other is wearing a scarf with little candy canes on it. 

Josie had worn the scarf a few days ago, so her scent was the most prominent on it than any others; Hope seemed content wearing it wrapped around her neck as long as it held Josie's scent. 

Josie may have taken a few pictures of Hope dressed in her scarf and can't wait to tease the redhead about it when she's human. Her heart soars at the thought of Hope blushing at what her wolf did.

The mere idea of seeing a blush on Hope's cheeks sends Josie into a daydream of telling the girl how cute her wolf was. 

She shakes her head to bring herself back to reality once she and Hope stand in front of Alaric's office. Josie knocks and waits.

She hears a muffled 'come in' and pushes the door open, letting Hope go through before stepping in herself. 

"Hey, dad. Did you find anything out?" Alaric's desk was a mess full of clutters of books and scatters of paper piles all around. It was the definition of chaotic and unorganized. 

Josie cringes slightly at seeing her dad's bloodshot eyes.

_ He must not have slept at all last night.  _

A wave of guilt that she wasn't expecting hits her hard. Her stomach flips at the thought. 

She feels something wet across her leg and looks down, seeing that Hope's rough tongue was licking at her. After Hope sees that she has Josie's attention, she presses her body against Josie's and sits down next to her. 

The warmth of Hope's body calms the guilt and brings down her anxieties. She absentmindedly strokes Hope's head. 

"I haven't found anything concrete. More speculations than answers." 

Alaric pulls out a book that had multiple pages highlighted out of it. "What were you and Hope talking about before she shifted?" He continues to skim through the book, flipping through the pages. 

Josie freezes and feels anxiety hit her hard at having to answer her Dad. Hope licks her leg again and pushes her head against her harder.

"We were just talking. Does it matter?" 

Alaric pauses his searching for a moment to look up at his daughter. "Maybe not," Is all he unhelpfully says. 

He must find the page he was looking for because he begins to read from it soon after. 

" _ When a werewolf shifts, the wolf itself can act like an entirely different entity when in wolf form. If the wolf and human are in a disagreement with each other, there are times the wolf can force a shift to occur."  _

Alaric stops reading and looks back up to Josie before staring down at Hope. "Why is Hope wearing a scarf?" 

Josie rolls her eyes, remembering the fight Hope had given her this morning. "She was being stubborn."

The wolf in question makes a yipping sound as if disagreeing with Josie's sentence, rubbing up against the girl further. "What? You were. Don't yip at me." 

Alaric watches their interaction with careful eyes and a thoughtful expression. "She understands you?" 

Josie nods while petting Hope behind her ears. "Kind of. I'm not sure if she fully can understand, but she seems to tell me what she wants and semi knows what I say."

Alaric nods once again and flips through another page in his book. "Well, the other thing I found has to do with soulmates, and unless Hope recently found her soulmate, then those options are out."

Josie freezes again and thinks back to the book Hope had a few days prior. "Is it possible for Hope to have found her soulmate and didn't mention it to anyone? Maybe not even to them?"

Alaric stops flipping and glances at Josie again. "Anything is possible. Hope is a private and secretive person in general. If she found her soulmate and for some reason didn't want anyone to know, it is possible for her not to have said anything."

He closes the book quickly and with a loud clap, the sound echoing throughout the room. "But once again, this is all speculation. We don't have a concrete idea of how to change Hope back just yet. I'm contacting Hope's aunts and seeing what they think and what we can do. Until then, Hope should stay in the forest, so she doesn't hurt anyone."

Josie's about to interject, but the wolf at her feet begins to growl loudly at that suggestion. 

"I don't think she wants to go to the woods, Dad. At least not alone." Hope doesn't stop growling at Alaric, choosing to curl into Josie even more, pushing her body between Josie's legs.

Alaric watches closely, holding the wolf's intense gaze before sighing and shaking his head. 

"I can't have her in the school. Who knows what damage she could potentially do with the other students around. Take her to the holding cells, and we'll keep her in there until we resolve this."

Josie reacts first this time, anger coursing through her veins. "No! This is Hope, Dad! we're not treating her like an animal." 

She couldn't imagine forcing Hope to stay locked up downstairs until they figured this out. It felt wrong. It was wrong.

"I'll take Hope to the woods and stay with her at the old mill. That way she's not around the other students and isn't alone. We are not locking her up." 

Hope curls even closer to Josie and wraps her tail around Josie's leg, much like a cat does to its owner. The warmth of Hope gives Josie strength. Finally, after what felt like too long, Alaric nodded his head.

"Fine. I will excuse you from your classes for the next couple of days until we figure this out. She seems to be calm around you anyway. I'll further do more research and see what we find. Keep her far away from other students, Josie. We don't want an incident."

Josie nods and feels a strange sense of victory wash over herself. She usually would never have fought her father, and especially not have won if she did it. Hope being next to her gave her strength. It made her braver.

They leave her father's study and head back to Josie's and Lizzie's room, Hope bounding next to her, happy once again. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! =D


	9. Chapter 9

"Hope. I'm not playing fetch with you." 

The stick that was in Hope's mouth drops down next to the pile of sticks she's accumulated the past couple of hours. She plops down onto the floor, lying on her back, sprawled out, wiggling back and forth, trying to get Josie to pet her.

The siphoner has to stop herself from squealing at how adorable the other girl is. While Hope in human form is stoic and quiet most of the time, carrying her burdens and feelings all inside while never letting anyone in, wolf Hope was almost the opposite. 

That's not exactly true; she was open and allowed herself to be adorable and playful with Josie… only Josie. 

After they left her Dad's office, Josie brought her things to the old mill and set up an entire research area that would rival a library with how many books she managed to smuggle out. 

Any ones her Dad didn't take Josie was determined to read herself. However, wolf Hope seemed intent on stealing her attention by being adorable and kept bringing Josie sticks for her to throw.

Hope really was a giant puppy, at least for Josie. 

Hope lets out a huff when Josie doesn't pay her any attention and decides to put her head in Josie's lap.

One of Josie's main topics is soulmates, specifically how wolves react to finding theirs.

While there wasn't as much concrete evidence, there were dozens of real-life accounts that she could read from. 

None of what she’d read, however, made any sense. Hope may be a private person, but she wouldn't have hidden from her soulmate for long or have been able to do it. Her wolf wouldn't have allowed it. 

Every personal account she reads confirmed that a wolf who tries to fight the bond will inevitably snap. Inability to accept it often ended with death. Of one or both, accounts varied, and often any survivors were driven to insanity by the loss. 

Josie gulps and glances at Hope, who is still snuggled close to her, now sound asleep. 

She couldn't fathom someone who wouldn't want Hope… 

Shaking her head, she continues to read, the text blurring after how many hours she's already read and researched. 

She picks up another book, trying to read it but is interrupted by Hope jumping to her feet and quickly spinning away from Josie. How fast she manages it after being apparently asleep not two seconds ago shocks Josie enough to drop her book.

"Hope?" The wolf takes a guarded crouch between Josie and the door leading to the forest her hackles up and, though Josie can’t see it, her teeth bared.

Now that she's listening, Joise can hear rustling in the leaves and twigs snapping as someone walks closer. Hope begins to growl and deepens her crouch in an attack position.

There's a voice cursing at the trees and stumbling their way to the girls. The second the person is in sight, Hope jumps automatically, knocking them over and landing on their chest.

Landon stays in his back with Hope on his chest and looks terrified at the teeth inches from his nose. But after a few seconds, once Hope accepts he's no threat, she backs off him.

Hope sits between Landon and Josie as if dividing both of them, eyes still fixed on the boy. 

Josie walks past Hope and towards Landon to help him up off the floor. "Hey Landon, are you okay?" 

"Ya, I'm good, only knocked the breath out of me a little bit." He gives her a half-smile that causes Josie to smile. She touches his shoulder and squeezes once before taking her hand away. 

Hope sees the action and narrows her eyes, choosing to growl again and step between Josie's legs. 

"Hope! Stop growling. We already know Landon's not a threat." The brunette reaches down and bops Hope's snout to get her to stop growling, only causing the wolf to huff instead. 

"So that really is Hope?" Landon looks between the two before landing his eyes on Josie. "Your Dad said I might find you both here."

"Yes, she is. I'm still trying to figure out how to change her back, but so far no dice." Sighing, she looks back over to where her piles of books remain scattered across the floor. 

"Maybe I can help? And even if I don't help much, maybe I can give you some company?" 

Josie smiles for a second and goes to answer before Hope sits down and howls loudly, interrupting both of them. 

Josie jumps, startled, before trying to calm Hope down. "Shh, Hope, stop howling. What's wrong?" 

The howling doesn't stop, only getting worse until Josie lays her hands on Hope. Finally, that calms her down as she gently strokes the long fur between her fingers, shushing Hope as she does. 

"You're really good with her." Josie doesn't look at Landon when she hears his voice, focusing on keeping Hope quiet.

"Thank you, I don't understand what set her off." As she speaks, a thought enters her mind unwittingly, something her Dad had said earlier that day.

_ If the wolf and human are in disagreement with each other, there are times the wolf can force a shift. _

Was Hope in disagreement with her wolf when she shifted? If she was, what caused it… 

She had been alone with Hope when the other girl had been going into the forest. What had Hope been doing before that…

"Landon, did you see Hope yesterday night, or sometime yesterday?" 

She glances over at him for a second before keeping her eyes on Hope. He doesn't answer for a moment, making Josie wonder if he had heard her. She had talked in a quiet tone as to not disturb the wolf.

"I did see her for a second, but I wasn't able to talk to her. I don't know if she had even saw me. She was heading to the girl's dorms like she was running from a fire. I tried to say hi, but she ran by before I could." 

Josie takes in the information again, thinking over what she's read and all the stray pieces of information she had collected. 

**Fact number 1:** Hope shifted uncontrollably the night before.

**Fact number 2:** She had been in Landon's vicinity before leaving for the forest. 

**Fact number 3:** Hope is a quiet and private person. 

**Fact number 4:** If she found her soulmate, there is a chance she wouldn't tell them 

**Fact number 5:** Every article and real-life account showed that wolves can't hide from their soulmates for long.

**Fact number 6:** Landon has been at school only a few weeks. 

Josie bites her lip and looks uncertain as she glances back towards Landon and then again at Hope. 

"Was Hope apprehensive of you when you first got here? Or did she avoid you?" 

Landon furrows his brow as he thinks, "She actually was very open to Raf and me. At first she tried to play it off, but she really helped me settle in after a couple of days. I thought we were friends."

Josie stops petting Hope, which causes a displeased huff from the wolf. 

**Fact number 7:** Hope took down her walls for Landon. Something she's never done as long as Josie’s known her. 

A sickening feeling of unease sits uncomfortably in her stomach. Hope must sense it because she rubs up against Josie's legs. 

"Thanks for the offer to stay, Landon, but I think I need to do some research myself for a little while." She gives a tight-lipped and terse smile. 

He nods his head a few times too many. Josie can already hear Lizzie's voice comparing him to a bobblehead.

"If you need me, just let me know. I'm here to help in any way I can." He tries to step forward, but that's as far as he gets before Hope is knocking between the two again, growling low as she does.

He stops moving and stays still, a bit of fear on his face. "Are you sure you'll be okay with her alone? I know wolves aren't always in control of themselves while in this form. Raf’s tried to explain it to me before."

Josie places a hand on Hope's head, nodding as she absentmindedly rubs Hope’s ears. "Don't worry, she won't hurt me."

Landon turns to leave back towards the school. Hope stays still, not moving for a few moments after he disappears through the trees. Her ears twitch as she does. Josie presumes she's listening for Landon to make sure he goes away.

The second he must be out of hearing range, Hope jumps up and spins towards Josie, wagging her tail as she does. Her tail comes to a gradual stop when Josie stands tall with her arms crossed and a disappointed look on her face. 

Hope whines and drops her head a little, looking all too pitiful. "No. You don't get to act all sad when you were being possessive." Another whine causes Josie to roll her eyes. It was like dealing with a child. 

"Hope, I'm sorry this is happening to you, and I really don't know how much you understand me, but are you a wolf right now because you fought against the soulmate bond?"

Hope doesn’t seem to be listening, bringing a foot up to scratch behind her ears. Josie sighs and sits down on her pile, Hope trailing behind her with her tail happily raised.

When Hope comes to sit down next to Josie, the brunette isn't having any of it. "No. You go over by your bed that I made. When you're a little brat, you don't get to sit next to me."

She points over to where a pile of blankets Josie had pulled together and a pillow cushion that Hope had pulled off one of the couches. Josie had intended it for Hope to chill on while she researched, but so far the wolf preferred to sit next to or on Josie instead.

If wolves could look devastated, Hope personified it perfectly with her wolf eyes. Before Josie could say another word, Hope is full-on whimpering and giving broken, high pitched howls. She flops to the ground before settling down with her paws covering her snout, whimpering as she does this. 

Josie can feel her heart break at the sounds. The whimpers had quieted enough for them to sound like crying, tugging on her heartstrings even more. She only lasts a few more seconds of hearing the pitiful sounds before she gives up.

"Oh come here, you big baby." 

The second Josie speaks Hope jumps up and runs over to Josie and practically climbs on top of her.

Josie was sitting down long ways on the couch and now had a giant wolf between her legs, head resting on her stomach. 

She rolls her eyes but still pets behind the overgrown puppy's ears, listening to Hope's quiet breathing as she does. 

As Hope falls asleep again, Josie's mind wanders to her interaction with Landon, replaying the factors over again in her head. If her theory is correct…

No. 

It's too soon to say. She needs to do more research. She grabs the book she had dropped prior and begins reading from the beginning once more, a new outlook to go through.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol Josie put 2 and 2 together and got 5


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you guys have an amazing and wonderful day, stay safe! Hope you enjoy the chapter!

"Don't… You… Dare…" 

Defiance sits on Hope's face, a child ready to break a rule they know they will get in trouble for. Debating if the punishment is worth the crime. 

Hope's eyes are calculating, holding onto Josie's gaze intently. She can see the gears turning in those beautiful golden eyes. 

Not long after Landon left it started to rain. At first it was just a sprinkle, barely anything. But before too long it picked up and turned into a torrential downpour, so much so that the roof of the old mill had begun to leak. Luckily Josie wasn't in a spot that had a hole above her, so she didn't get wet.

Hope, however, had seemed delighted that it was raining. Choosing to jump in the small puddles of water that had formed on the ground.

Josie had brought out a clean bowl and set it out in the weather to fill incase Hope got thirsty, but the white wolf seemed to prefer drinking the dirty rainwater from the muddy divots in the ground all around the mill. 

Leading Josie to another point. Outside the old mill is a forest with a dirt path. Which was now a mud path. 

Josie was already dreading the walk back and mourning the inevitable loss of her shoes she lose to the gripping mud. Hope, being a wolf who didn't need to think of any of that, looked ready to run wild and free out in the rain.

Josie has no problem with her furry friend running wild and free under normal circumstances. However, since Hope refuses to leave her side and whines whenever she doesn't get her way, Josie is going to have to sleep with a wolf on her bed. Or, more accurately, Hope's bed. 

If Hope runs out into the rain she’ll be drenched and coated in mud. And Josie is not sleeping with a soaking wet wolf.

"Hope, if you run out there now, you’re sleeping on the floor out here." 

Josie's really not sure if she can even make good on her threat. Hope might find a way to get where Josie is regardless of what she does.

Still, she crosses her arms and holds Hope's gaze, the oversized puppy not backing down.

"Hope, I swear to god. Don't you dare…"

Something shifts in Hope's eyes and Josie realizes she's lost the battle about a millisecond before Hope bolts out into the rain, heading through the trees and quickly out of sight. 

Sighing at the inevitable smell of wet dog that will fill her senses when Hope returns, Josie sits back down, pulling over another book. 

The rain drums on the roof in a constant stream of sound that soothes Josie’s tired mind, letting her get back into her reading. She loved rain when she was little, listening to in and being out in it. She never let herself really enjoy it anymore.

Just as she gets into a reading groove her phone goes off, disrupting her concentration. 

She looks around wildly for the phone, lost somewhere in the pile of blankets and books. The ringing continues as Josie throws things haphazardly in search of it before it stops. 

After a few more rings Josie’s hand finally wraps around the phone, and she answers it out of breath.

"Hello?" She calms down with a few breaths, tucking the phone away from her mouth so she's not panting into the phone. 

"Josie? Where are you? I've been looking everywhere for you. Is Hope with you?" Alaric says through the phone, sounding more than a little irritated. 

"I'm at the old mill, where I said I was going to be. Hope's…" she trails off as she looks around for the ball of floof who is nowhere in sight. "She's around. What did you need?" 

"Hope's aunt just got back to me. A wolf forcing a shift is not normal. And can be potentially damaging." 

Josie's heart sinks at the thought, fear gripping the back of her neck for a few seconds.

"Did they say if there was a way we could change her back?" She swallows hard once again.

She can hear her dad sigh on the other end of the line, can feel his stress coming off him in waves even if she can't see him. 

"She said that Hope's wolf and her human have to agree Hope should be in control again. She has to make a choice to change herself back." 

Josie can feel her fear spike again,

"What else did she say, dad? There has to be another way, a loophole." 

He was silent. A silence that Josie did not like at all. 

"Freya is coming here herself if we can't get Hope to change back before the next full moon. She’ll have to override Hope's wolf if that is even possible in her case, which is extremely dangerous."

Josie's talking before she even realizes it.

"No! We are not going to do anything potentially dangerous. We'll find another way. Give me some time. I can find a way, I know I can." She speaks with clarity and conviction, her heart hammering as she does.

"That's not up to you, Josie. Hope could be damaged permanently if she's not brought back to herself soon. She may never be the same again. She might end up more animal than human. There is no other choice. By the next full moon Freya will do a spell to try and bring Hope back." 

A fire burns inside of Josie deep and fills her entire body with anger, the fear she felt earlier consumed and multiplied in the heat of a thousand suns. Her Dad keeps talking, but she can't even begin to really listen. She barely says goodbye before hanging up and throwing the phone against the wall. 

All of the books she's read swirl around her head, trying to summon up a solution. But all she can do is imagine Hope not being able to change back or being permanently damaged, and she can feel her heart stop. 

She walks out of the old mill, into the pouring rain, lets the water coat her skin, soaking her clothes almost instantly.

Something feels off to her when she looks towards the forest, the rain is only coming down harder and she can barely see the trees with how dark it is. It's barely evening, but with the grey skies and rain, it might as well be midnight. 

Hope should have been back by now. Even when she was wolfing out and running, she stayed within sight or would howl just to let Josie know she’s still there.

"Hope?! Are you there? It's time to come home!"

Silence follows the echo of her voice.

Josie runs into the forest before she even can understand what she's doing. The rain continues to pour and she runs deeper into the woods. Mud coats her legs as she begins to run faster, her heartbeat picking up speed with fear. 

She doesn't stop calling Hope's name as she runs. When nothing comes in return once again, she pushes her hands down to the ground. She tries siphoning from the earth, hoping she's not too far away from the magic that runs through the school. 

After a moment her hands begin to glow the reddish-orange she's familiar with and magic courses through her veins. 

She mutters a spell that brings a glowing red line to life, running from her to somewhere in the forest, tying itself around her little finger.

She takes off running again. With the rain hitting hard against the leaves and the sound of her heavy breathing, she barely hears the howls and whimpers ahead.

The red string leads her right to where Hope is, stuck in a mud puddle.

"Hope! Are you okay?"

Hope struggles to pull free as she tries to get to Josie, but has no luck. With the way the wolf moves, she is likely to hurt herself so Josie runs to her and rubs her hands on Hope's fur. 

"Shh, baby, I'm here. Stop moving, okay? I don't want you to hurt yourself." Hope quiets and stops struggling as Josie coos to her. 

Josie bends down to Hope’s eye level but keeps herself upright so she can get out. Siphoning a little bit of magic from Hope, she whispers another spell, growing vines from the trees, bringing them down so she can grab onto them and pull Hope out. 

Hope whimpers again, but Josie holds on tight to her. As Hope’s leg finally pulls free Josie loses her balance and falls on her back with Hope in her arms. 

They're both covered head to toe with mud at this point, rain pelting Josie’s face, but they’re both safe. 

Josie keeps her hands rubbing against Hope's fur, trying to calm her shivering.

"What happened, Hope? How’d you get stuck?" 

No answer comes except from Hope of course as she struggled to stand and look around, growling at the forest surrounding them. 

She doesn't stop growling though, like there's a threat nearby, her hackles raised high. 

"Hope?" 

At the sound of her name Hope leans over and grabs Josie's shirt in her jaws and starts pulling her towards where the mill should be. 

Josie trips as Hope continues to pull her. She doesn't understand why Hope is pulling on her, but she starts to run so Hope doesn't have to drag her along. 

  
  


-

  
  


Josie doesn't know this at the time, but Hope had saved both of their lives. They continue running out of site as a lone, dark figure comes into view, watching the two run off with pale narrowed eyes. Their plan to kill the Tribrid while she was vulnerable had failed. 

They begin to plot their next attack on how to complete their mission. They may have failed now, but the siphoner witch gave them plenty of ideas on how to end the youngest Mikaelsons existence.

  
  


-

  
  


They run together as fast as Josie can, Hope keeping pace with her easily. Once the old mill is in sight, they pick up the pace even more until they’re both safely inside. Josie collapses in a tired heap, panting as she does so. Both she and Hope are still mud-covered and now exhausted from their impromptu run. 

"Fuck, that was bad. Hope, are you okay?" Josie crawls over to where Hope is lying panting on the floor and runs her fingers through the thick muddy fur. 

Hope nuzzles around into Josie's hand, closing her eyes as Josie rubs behind her ears. 

"Come on you overgrown puppy, we need to get back. We're not out of the woods just yet… literally. We need to get out of the woods, back to the school and clean up. You are not sleeping next to me covered in mud and soaking wet." 

Hope must take offense at that because she stands up, still near Josie, and shakes out her fur sending mud and water all around, and specifically onto what little of Josie wasn’t already muddy.

"Hope!" Josie squeals and covers her face while her body gets more mud on it. Once Hope is finished, she has a wolfish grin on her face that could only be described as a smirk. 

"You're lucky I was already dirty, otherwise I'd make you sleep on the couch." She glares for emphasis, but there's no heat behind her words or glare. 

"Come on, let's go get cleaned up."


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy!! Sorry about the wait 😅

They quickly make their way into the heavy rain and towards the school. 

As they stand in front of the school's front doors, Josie begins to hesitate. Mud covers both of them and will inevitably be tracked all over the halls and some poor person will have to clean it up.

"Hope, can I siphon from you?” Sure, she did it before without asking, but that was an emergency. Josie leans down and puts her hand out for emphasis, which Hope must understand as she leans her body forward into Josie’s waiting hand.

A few moments later, and a spell on Josie's lips, she makes it so they don't leave a mess. The spell will make it where the mud will disappear the second it leaves their clothes. So as they walk through the corridors, it'll dissipate.

As they make their way through the school, Josie really wishes she said a spell that had made them invisible instead. Eyes fall on the two of them everywhere they walk, as if a soaking wet and mud-splattered witch walking next to an equally drenched and muddy wolf isn't totally normal.

She feels overly self-conscious and tries to huddle into herself, looking down to the ground away from the incessant stares. Hope must sense it because she pushes herself against Josie's leg as they walk, leaning up to lick her hand.

Luckily there are few and fewer students about as they continue towards their room. Most are probably making their way to dinner.

Josie makes a quick stop to her room to grab some clothes and anything she'd need for a shower and then makes her way out the door, Hope trailing right after her.

The showers are a sight Josie couldn't be happier to see but before she can open the door for Hope, it swings open, knocking into her and bopping Hope on the nose. The wolf makes a distressed noise and growls low in anger at the person coming out.

"Wow, look what the cat dragged in." Penelope's low drawl makes its way to Josie's ears. She looks up at the voice as her mouth tilts down into a scowl. "I'm a little surprised Jojo, you're usually so prim and proper."

Josie rolls her eyes and takes a step back so Penelope could step out of the door. She doesn't, only watches Josie with a raised eyebrow.

"Let me by Pen." she said, trying to keep her voice passive and emotionless.

"No can do, you have to pay the toll." Penelope taps her cheek for a kiss.

"Not happening. Penelope. Can you not be a jerk for five seconds and move? I really need to take a shower."

The mud was beginning to dry and harden on her skin and her clothes were uncomfortably wet and heavy with their own coating of mud. Hope seemed to huff at the two and decided to take matters into her own hands. 

She growls low and raises herself to her haunches and paws at the air, getting both girls attention. 

Josie smiles at the wolf and scratches behind her ears.

"I think that's Hope's cue for you to leave." said wolf growls for emphasis.

A look of incredulity passes across Penelope's face, just as Josie realizes her mistake.

"That's Hope?"

Josie stays silent at the question, confirming the suspicions as far as Penelope is concerned.

"Huh, why is our resident Tribrid a mutt now?"

She looks over at Josie for answers, surprised to find anger writ large across the siphoners’ features. 

"Don't call her that!"

Penelope raises an eyebrow but stays silent. She does step out of the way from the door, holding it open so both Josie and Hope could pass. The wolf takes up the hint, seemingly glad that the towel-wrapped witch is leaving, choosing to whack Penelope with her tail as she goes.

Josie and Penelope share a look for a long second before Josie breaks the contact and follows after Hope. The door swings shut a moment later.

The showers are typical to what you would find in a dorm-like setting; five curtained shower stalls lining the walls.

Josie makes her way to the farthest stall as Hope follows her. Most of the time, the showers are just big enough for one person; when you add a giant wolf to the mix, it would usually make it that much smaller.

Josie, however, had an advantage most others didn't. When she was dating Penelope the black-haired girl had taught her a spell that could make the area inside a defined space, say about the size of a shower stall, seem larger to those inside it. And a few tricks to increase water pressure and stream, but that was a whole ‘nother story. It made showering with ones’ girlfriend that much more pleasant.

With a little more magic siphoned from Hope and a spell said, the shower was suddenly big enough for both Hope and her with room to spare.

Hope quickly jumps into the stall as the water runs and wastes no time letting the warm water soak into her fur.

Josie laughs as she watches Hope play in the water for a moment before focusing on her own task. She begins to take off her muddy clothes and lets them fall to the floor. However, she stops when she's down to her underwear.

Hope doesn't seem to be paying attention to her, only focusing on the water and splashing. That doesn't mean that Hope won't remember Josie naked in the shower when she's back to her human form though.

Josie bites her lip as a blush forms at the thought. Throwing caution to the wind, she strips herself entirely and steps under the warm spray.

She lets out a small moan as the hot water warms her cold and clammy skin, the water turning from brown to clear as the mud washed away.

She's glad she's able to shower now, any longer, and the mud would've hardened completely and made it that much harder to get off her skin.

She lathers her body with soap and rinses her hair out before she remembers she’s not alone and turns back to Hope. Josie bursts out laughing at the sight of the wet wolf, who now looks like a drowned rat. Hopes’ fur was completely soaked through, making it clear how much of Hopes’ fluffy self was actually floof.

Hope must not like that Josie is laughing at her because she shakes out her fur once again. Luckily this time it's semi-clean, but there’s so much of it that Josie still has to block her face with her arms.

Unfortunately for Hope, it only makes Josie laugh and squeal harder.

Josie rolls her eyes at Hope's antics and grabs the dog shampoo she’d picked up from her room earlier. Why she had that in her room to begin with was a mystery even to her, but the bottle had been there for months now and it was about time she got some use out of the thing.

Hope, however, had other ideas and kept running around in a circle to avoid Josie. The wolf lowers herself to the ground in a bow and wiggles her butt in the air, making it clear she thinks this was a wonderfully fun game Josie invented just for her.

"Hope, I need to get you clean!" she cried, trying not to laugh at how ridiculous this situation was.

Josie makes another attempt at grabbing at Hope but instead slips, landing on top of her instead.

Luckily the wolf is strong and able to hold Josie's weight easily. So the brunette holds on tight as Hope walks in circles, splashing Josie with the water a few times in the face.

Though it was awkward to be on top of Hope naked like this, Josie could see the fun of riding a wolf and wondered if Hope would let her do this again someday.

She makes a mental note to ask Hope later if she would take Josie for a ride around the forest.

Back to the issue at hand though, Josie grabs Hope around her stomach and tries to stop the walking so she can wash Hope's fur. Finally, after a few more seconds of trying, Hope relents, sitting down with a huff as she does.

Josie starts lathering up Hope's fur and uses her fingers to comb out the dirt and mud the shower head hadn’t gotten out. As she cleans, the wolf allows her to lift her paws and leg to clean each one. It seems that once Josie started, Hope had seen the appeal of having Josie's soap covered hands run through her thick fur. Now the wolf closes her eyes and allows Josie to clean her fur. 

_ It must feel like a wonderful massage.  _

Josie thinks to herself. Once Hope is sufficiently clean, Josie returns to washing her own body thoroughly and cleaning her hair. Once done, she shuts the water off and shields herself as Hope shakes her fur out once again. Another spell is on her lips that dries her hair and works perfectly for drying Hope off. Though it needs a fair bit more juice.

As she does the spell, Hope turns into even more of a ball of floof than usual and once again is not as amused as Josie laughs at the sight.

Josie, once she’s managed to catch her breath from laughing so hard, runs her fingers through Hope's fur, basking in the softness that is Hope. The bath had done the wolf a world of good for her coat.

"You're such a puppy." Josie says fondly while watching Hope. Said wolf is now on her back and wiggling so Josie can scratch her stomach.

Josie does so, but only for a few seconds before they exit the bathroom, fully clean, dry and, for Josie, dressed in a comfy bathrobe.

The hallway is nearly empty, most students having gone to dinner, leaving Josie and Hope alone as they walk to Hope's room for the night.

Once there, Josie unlocks the door and let's Hope through, who immediately jumps up on the bed. Josie watches with a feeling of deep affection in her chest as Hope turns in circles getting comfortable.

Josie walks over and sits down on the bed, scratching Hope behind her ears again.

"What are we going to do, Hope? You need to come back, but I don't know how to help you do that…"

She trails off when her voice fills with deep emotions, causing her to be unable to form more words. Hope seems to sense this and crawls forward towards her and licks Josie's hand, nuzzling her snout into Josie's leg.

"We're going to get you back, Hope. No matter what, I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

She wraps her arms around Hope's furry neck and kisses the top of her head. Her eyes close.

"I promise."


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I just want to let you guys know that I started back up with University, so the next couple chapters might be delayed (and the laundromat au, if you read that), I'll try my best to get them out on time, but it's kinda hard to tell at this point how much I can get done with homework as well. 
> 
> But thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoy the chapter 💙

Josie sits on the moth-eaten couch in the old mill, the two piles of books that had surrounded her at the beginning of the week having multiplied several times over.

Freya Mikaelson is set to arrive in just a few hours and all the research Josie had done had amounted to nothing.

No leads.

No great break-through.

Nothing.

It had been a week since Hope and she had been caught in the rain, and she felt herself going crazy. Nothing was working and it seemed like no one cared enough to help her search for an answer.

Josie hadn't realized the extent to which Hope had no friends.

The only people in the school who’d actually done anything to help Hope was... well... her.

Just her.

Her Dad had an entire school to run and was under the impression that Freya Mikaelsons would be able to pull a hail mary save. Normally, Josie would believe that, would give into the message that such a powerful witch would do anything in her power to help her niece and bring Hope back.

But something was nagging at Josie, forcing her to continue searching, forcing her to keep looking, no matter what.

She didn't trust that forcing Hope back into her human form would work, or that it wouldn't cause damage to Hope.

All these thoughts whirl around in her head constantly, along with all the research she's already done.

The week spent with Hope in the old mill had gone by so much faster than Josie had anticipated.

Sadly, almost pathetically, it had been one of the best weeks of Josie's life.

Hope had stuck by her side… Constantly…

She was there when Josie had started going back to classes, the dining hall, the shower and, of course, when she went to bed.

Other students had asked questions Josie refused to answer, but after a while everyone got used to Josie's pet wolf who was now with her every second of the day.

Hope was tame as long as Josie paid more attention to her than anyone else.

The wolf had become a constant in Josie's life, one that she'll be heartbroken to say goodbye to. She's grown used to the furry puppy who curls next to her at night. Who listens to her talk and doesn't judge but instead offers quiet support and love. Who has shown her more emotions and kindness than anyone else in the entire school, even her own twin.

Josie tries to push that thought out of her mind. She’d allow herself to feel sad and heartbroken once Hope is back to normal.

So, yes, she's going to be heartbroken. She's going to yearn for that playful puppy, but she has to do everything in her power to bring Hope back.

She has too.

Josie sighs deeply and rubs her eyes. She's running out of time. The full moon is in a few days. She can feel the date looming over her head like a guillotine waiting to take her life.

She swears she's going to have grey hair from the stress of this.

A howl splits through the air and makes Josie jump, making her realize she’d been about a second away from falling asleep on the couch.

Hope is off gallivanting in the woods, has been for a few hours. She’ll let out a short howl every now and again to let Josie know where she is. After the whole mud pit fiasco, Josie is thankful for it.

One thing that she has noticed which is worrisome, is that Hope has been acting more and more like a wolf.

Josie has enjoyed how playful Hope acts since she’s turned furry, but she'd been acting even less human as the days went by. It was more of a feeling than any example she could point to, but Josie noticed it.

And she doesn't like it at all.

It means the research that she's been doing is more important than she had thought. She has to find a way to bring Hope back before she loses herself to the wolf and never comes back.

That’s when Hope finally comes back from the forest, padding through the door and heading towards Josie. Her tails wagging about a mile an hour and Josie can't help but smile.

"Hey Hopey, have a good time?" The high pitch yip seems to be a yes as Hope jumps up on the couch and lays down across Josie’s lap.

"Oof, you're heavy." Josie complains, but still has a smile.

One good thing that’s happened this week is the number of pictures of Hope has grown.

One day, when Lizzie had been out of their room, Josie did an entire fashion show for Hope, putting on different pieces of her wardrobe and dressed Hope up in multiple accessories.

She’d taken so many pictures.

The wolf had put up with it only because it was her and Josie’s clothes must smell like her a little.

As Josie goes to reach for her next book, trying to maneuver around Hope's body, there's a snapping of a branch nearby.

Hope is up and alert in an instant, off Josie’s lap and standing guard. Her hackles up and her teeth bared in a low growl.

It reminds Josie of when Landon had come by the mill a week ago. This time, however, there are two voices.

"She hasn't left Josie's side for an entire week." Josie hears someone say and it only takes her a second to recognize Dad's voice first as more twigs snap. Two pairs of feet, Josie thinks.

"Shh Hope, it's okay, it's just my Dad." She tries to calm Hope down before the two people arrive by scratching behind her ears.

It seems to work as Hope lowers her guard as Josie works her fur through her fingers. Josie gets down off the couch and kneels so she's on Hope's level, petting her some more and trying to get her to lie on her back.

Hope acquiescence, allowing Josie to scratch her stomach and seeming to forget all about the voices that are getting nearer.

_ All it takes is some tummy scratches to disarm the Big Bad Wolf. _

Josie smirks at the sight of Hope’s head tilting back, her tongue lolling out of her mouth. She looks up quickly at the gasps that she hears come through the door of the mill.

Hope rolls over and jumps to get all four feet under her again.

Freya Mikaelson, and Alaric Saltzman are standing where a door might be in the old mill, staring at both Josie and the white wolf guarding her.

No one moves for a moment, tension seems to be high in the air. When Freya does move to step closer, Hope growls low in warning.

"Sh, Hope, it's okay. They're friends. You know them. Go say hi." Josie says, gesturing the angry furball forward.

Hope doesn't move for a long second, her ear twitches as Josie speaks but she doesn't move. Slowly, she puts one paw in front of the other and takes a few long strides over to where Freya is standing, her face showing no emotion.

She reaches a hand out for Hope to smell as she draws nearer.

The second Hope sniffs, and sniffs again, her tail starts wagging. It seems that Hope finally realizes exactly who it is that has come to see her, because she starts jumping around, yipping excitedly, before pushing her head into Freya's waiting hand.

After a few moments of the petting, Hope sits back down and releases a short happy howl into the room. Freya laughs at the reaction and pets her niece some more.

After that, it's not long before Hope seems satisfied with the pets and bounds back over to Josie on the couch, rubbing her fur along Josie's legs.

With Hope no longer distracting everyone, the attention falls to Josie as Freya looks at her. She swallows and looks down at her lap for a moment before getting up and walking over to where the woman stands. Hope follows after her easily, staying at her heels.

"You must be Josie." the Mikaelson witch begins. Josie nods her head.

"And you must be Freya."

\---

A lone light shines overhead in the library from a dimly lit chandelier.

Penelope pours over the written texts, using magic to speed read everything she can get her hands on. Her brow furrows the further she reads.

She had to break into both Alaric's office and Hope's room to find the books she needed.

Josie had been searching in all the right places, with the wrong knowledge. Missing the one key piece of information that would show the big picture.

Penelope also has her giant leather book filled with secrets written by anyone who used her special pens.

Less than a year ago, when she had given out the pens, one key person had used it. She wrote out the pain and the struggles she went through but most importantly, she wrote out her secrets.

Hope Mikaelson had written exactly what she’d hidden her entire life; that Josette Saltzman was her soulmate.

Penelope was shocked at the revelation, angered by it at first. But then she started to see the signs.

She and Josie had started dating around freshman year. It wasn't Long after she had found out that Hope and Josie were soulmates and so she’d cheated on Josie to get her to break up with her.

Now, as she reads through the books and first-person accounts on soulmates, she understands that she made the right choice. As Josie and Hope grow older the bond would only grow, and if Hope continued to fight it, it would destroy both of them.

Josie was brilliant, clever and one of the most powerful witches at this school. But when it came to her own feelings, she could be painfully oblivious to what was right in front of her. And when push came to shove she’d choose to run away rather than confront.

So Penelope was sure Josie hadn’t put it together that Hope is her soulmate. She couldn't allow herself to see the signs. Or wouldn't.

Either way, knowing that Hope is Josie's soulmate and how dense the brunette twin is, Penelope could see what needed to be done.

She makes a promise to herself that she will do anything in her power to get Hope back to Josie, and push them towards each other.

Even if it breaks her heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's Penelope planning 👀


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol catch me acting like I've seen the originals and know what I'm talking about 🙃

"How long has she been like this?"

Freya’s inquisitive eyes never seem to leave Josie for long. Josie is standing next to Hope, absentmindedly scratching the wolf behind the ears.

"A little more than a week. Maybe nine days? I'm not really sure…" 

Josie zones out of Alaric’s monologue as a wave of anxiety hits her.

She tries to not show it, especially when she's standing next to Freya Mikaelson, one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, witch in the world.

Hope can sense her unease and leans into her with a whine, nuzzling against her side.

"There's some low level spells I want to run on Hope, maybe to give us a better idea of what's going on." Freya looks around at the spot that Josie has been occupying for the better part of a week. Her books and notes littered across the floor and couch.

She and Hope had made themselves at home in the mill, spending more time there than at school. After Freya had come, only an hour before, Alaric had been trying to explain the situation with occasional input from Josie and Hope. They hadn't gone through what Josie had discovered or researched though.

Freya pauses before giving Josie her full attention again. "First though, I would like to see your notes and research."

Josie nods her head and brings out a journal she had been keeping. She’s written out what little she’d managed to figure out this past week and different possible solutions.

She hadn't found many.

"I have a couple different theories of what could be happening."

Freya keeps her attention scattered, looking at the notes, and watching Hope as Josie continues.

"One theory is that Hope stopped shifting or hadn't allowed herself to shift for some time, making her wolf angry and unstable."

Freya hums and nods her head. "It would explain why she shifted uncontrollably, but not why she can't shift back."

"That's exactly what I was thinking, which leads to my next theory. Hope has been denying her wolf something. I'm not exactly sure what that would be, or how that’s even possible, but I think Hope refused to do something which cost her part of her humanity…for lack of a better term."

Hope seems to be bored with the conversation since she is no longer the one being given attention. The wolf huffs a little bit and paws at Josie's leg, nuzzling her nose into Josie's stomach.

"Hope, not now." She looks down and scratches Hope's head once and then twice to satisfy the puppy, before turning her attention back to Freya.

The other woman’s eyes flit between her and Hope with a look in her eyes that Josie can't decipher.

The anxiety comes back again at Freya's impenetrable stare.

"My last theory is that Hope found her soulmate, and refused to get close to them. Or maybe not as close as her wolf wanted her too. Whatever the reason, I think Hope had tried to cut ties with whoever is her mate and her wolf is punishing her because of it."

Hope once again comes over and begins to paw at Josie's leg, going as far as to grab onto the hem of her shirt with her teeth.

"Hope, now is not the time! What do you need?" The wolf makes a series of whines that Josie tries to follow.

"You just want attention huh? Come here"

Josie rolls her eyes fondly, but sits down on the couch. Hope jumps up into her arms as she starts petting the fluffy fur all over. Freya continues to watch the interaction with the same look in her eyes and her lips twitching every now and again.

"If your theory is correct, and my niece did find her soulmate, do you have any idea who it could be?"

_That would be a great thing to know wouldn't it?_ Josie sighs and looks down.

"I haven’t been able to figure out much. It would have to be someone new, someone who has just met Hope. There are only two new students we had joined the school a few weeks ago, but Hope hasn’t had any real interaction with them…" She trails off, unsure of how to continue the thought.

"Why would it have to be someone recent?" Josie pauses her movements, much to Hope's displeasure, to give Freya an almost “duh” look. She’d think that was pretty obvious.

"Hope couldn't possibly have stayed away from her soulmate very long. Otherwise her wolf would have done something like this sooner… Wouldn’t it?" She sounds unsure, even to herself.

Josie had briefly toyed with the idea of Hope's soulmate being someone who’d been at the school a while, but she’d quickly scrapped that idea. Now with the way Freya looks at her… she's not for sure.

Freya sits down on the couch next to Josie, watching her petting and scratching Hope. It’s only now that Josie realizes her father’s disappeared at some point in the last five minutes.

"We don’t really know much about Soulmates in the supernatural world and what I do know I know because of my wife." Freya pauses and keeps eye contact with Josie, who is paying rapt attention.

"When we'd first met, she was our… prisoner of sorts. Hayley had found her and we needed her venom to save our family. Even when she was our prisoner, I felt this undeniable pull."

Freya pauses and reaches over to join in petting Hope. The wolf seems to be enjoying the additional attention, but still keeps her body pressed against Josie's legs and stomach.

"Wolves don't have to see their Soulmate all the time when they first find them, but they do need to remain close. If your theories are correct, all she would have to do is remain close to them from a distance."

Josie furrows her brow and looks up at Freya, her attention had fallen towards Hope who is now resting her head against Josie's leg.

"So, you're saying that Hope's Soulmate could basically be anyone in the entire school?!" That had to be the  _ least _ helpful thing they’d found out so far.

Freya nods once before standing up. "Now that I have a better picture, we'll need to run some tests to see if there's a way to bring Hope back without harming her psyche. Forcing a shift is very dangerous, but it might be necessary if we can’t bring her back any other way."

Fear pummeled against her mind for the thousandth time. Every moment that gets closer to the full moon is a moment where Hope is closer to being forced back. Josie can't stand it. She  _ hates _ it.

Freya must sense her unease because a moment later she's standing up and offering a hand. "Some of these spells require two witches, care to help me?"

Josie's head whips up to look at Freya.  _ Her _ helping one of the most powerful witches?

She quickly nods her head, not one to deny a gift. She reaches over and takes her hand.

Hope whines as her seat abruptly launches her off the couch.

\---

"Hey Jojo, can we talk?"

Penelope Park stands leaning against her bedroom door.

Josie was exhausted. More than exhausted. She had spent the past two days running dozens of spells with Freya, trying to find out what the issue was and if there was any solution. No luck in anything they tried.

Josie hesitates, already leery of Penelope's motives. But she looks skittish and nervous, both of which are not emotions that Penelope Park ever shows.

Josie nods her head signaling for the ravenette to come in.

"What do you want, Pen?" The nickname Josie had used so often before falls from her lips like muscle memory. It was a bad habit that seemed nowhere close to ever being broken. It was the same way when Penelope called her Jojo, though the other witch probably wasn't trying to change her flirtatious ways.

Penelope is quiet for a moment longer thinking through her next step carefully, analyzing each choice to make and her words. Josie had gotten used to that look when they were dating, she’d done it whenever there was a delicate topic that needed to be discussed.

"I know a way to turn Hope back into human form."

Josie, who had moved to sit down on the bed, stands up shocked at the words.

"What?!" She doesn't trust Penelope in her actions nor her motives.

"I found a way to turn Hope back. It's simple, yet I know you haven't tried it."

Josie crosses her arms and glares, not enjoying being toyed with. "How do you know I haven't tried it? I've been with Freya Mikaelson the past two days and we've done dozens of spells."

Penelope steps closer, or as close as Hope would let the girl get without growling. "It's not a spell."

Josie grows more restless than before, wanting Penelope to spit it out already. "What's the catch?"

At Penelope's hesitation, Josie continues talking. "You wouldn't be helping me unless you got something out of this. Or maybe you have a master plan which would make me another pawn for you to toy with." Josie almost sneers the words stepping closer to Penelope.

"I don't want anything in return. Please Josie, just try this. What else do you have to lose?"

At that Josie pauses, she really didn't have much else to lose. The full moon was tomorrow night, meaning Hope would be forced to shift back. Anxiety rolls through her at the thought. She feels Hope lean over and lick at her hand that was closest to the wolf, grounding her.

"Fine. Tell me how to change her back." Josie sits down on the bed and starts rubbing Hope behind her ears again.

"You need to ask Hope to come back to you."

Josie pauses to take in the words, once they register she scowls.

"That's your big idea? Just asking nicely for Hope to change back? That doesn't even make sense!"

"Trust me Jojo, it’ll make sense eventually. But until then you have to ask Hope to come back. Plead with her, tell her you need her and she will. It has to be you." Once Penelope finishes, she moves towards the door, almost ready to leave.

"Pen, wait...I don't understand. Why does it have to be me?"

Penelope stares at Josie for a long couple of seconds before sighing. "You'll figure it out."

And like smoke evaporating in the air, she's gone.

Josie sighs loudly, she doesn't understand what just happened, nor what she was supposed to do now. She doesn't know what her ex-girlfriends’ motives are or what is going on anymore.

Then a certain fluffy wolf crawls over to her and burrows her head between Josie's arms. She swallows once smiling down at the puppy that has kept her company the past week and a half, never leaving her side.

"Hope." The wolf lifts her head to stare at Josie eyes shining and golden.

"I want you to come back to me. I need you to come back to me in human form. Please…" she trails off and holds her breath.

Nothing happens.

Wolf Hope's ears twitch and she yawns once, but nothing else.

Josie sighs, she knew she shouldn't have gotten her hopes up. She shakes her head and begins the process of getting ready for bed.

Once finished, Hope is still as the fluffy wolf she's known and love, snoozing on the bed, waiting patiently for Josie to join her.

Josie crawls underneath the covers and leans over to kiss Hope on the head.

"Come back to me." She doesn't notice she's speaking until the words are in the air. Still nothing happens, but her eyes drift closed and soon the exhaustion takes over, turning her world into black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! We may see another side of Hope when Josie wakes up 👀👀👀


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol I was going wait till I posted this but I got impatient 
> 
> This is going on a small break for a week or 2 but the next thing I'm posting is the laundromat au which will come soon!

Ch. 14

When Josie wakes up, it's to the experience of a full-body heatwave.

It's like a furnace underneath her blankets and lava filling her blood. She groans a little and tries to push the blankets off of her without opening her eyes.

For some reason the blanket is too heavy, and for the first time since she wakes up, she notices a pressure against her.

_ Since when is her blanket so heavy? _

She still doesn't open her eyes for a few more seconds, she's on the brink of consciousness and her brain fights against it.

She hears a small soft whining that reminds her of Hope, but that can't be right. It sounds entirely too human.

She slowly gains more awareness as the weight moves against her and grows closer. It was already curled on top of her body but now she feels a new pressure against her neck.

A small and repetitive pressure was also added onto her neck that tickles her skin.

Josie finally opens her eyes, the sun shining through the window, blinding her. She brings a hand up to rub her eyes and has to stop herself when she opens them again. 

Hope Mikaelson is on top of her curled around her body.

Completely naked. 

She swears her heart stops beating and she stops breathing for a second.  Hope's back is uncovered as the blankets have been shifted down to reach only the tops of her hips, leaving Josie with the glorious image that is Hope's naked back.

The motion she had felt on her neck was Hope's lips being pressed against her over and over again, the sleeping girl seeming totally unaware of her actions.

Josie almost whimpers at the feeling and having Hope so close to her like this. She can feel Hope's naked breasts against her barely-clothed torso.

She remains frozen as she just watches Hope's sleeping form burrow herself further into Josie's arms and body. Josie has to stop herself from moaning when she feels Hope's teeth come out and scrape against her neck.

They remain like that together with Hope sucking the skin between her teeth and kissing any skin she could reach. 

A small moan leaves her mouth.

_ Fuck.  _ Josie needs to wake Hope up. Her sanity depends on it.

"Hope?"

There's no response other than Hope snuggling herself further into Josie.

"Hope, you need to wake up."

Hope's eyebrows furrow minutely before she bites down once again on Josie's neck, a growl leaving the girl’s throat. The sudden bite, while not painful, shocks Josie and sends a wave of heat straight to her core which brings another loud moan tumbling from her mouth.

The sound woke Hope up instantly. The other girl bolted up, leaving her straddling Josie's hips.

Almost as if instinctual, Hope's hands came up to grab Josie's arms and pushed them above the brunette's head, locking her in place.

Hope's eyes are golden and shining as she stares deeply into Josie's wide doe eyes.

"Hope, it's me. Breath."

She tries to keep calm if only to not startle Hope, but her heartbeat races at the position they're in. Hope has stretched herself so her chest is pressed against Josie's.

Before she can say anything or do anything else, Hope moves her face between Josie's neck and shoulder and bites down hard. The pain lasts for only a second as the feeling shocks Josie again.

Hope doesn't release her at all, her teeth clenched between the junction of her shoulder and neck, fangs sinking deep.

When time starts again, Josie releases a loud groan, slightly of pain, but more of surprise.

Hope finally retracts her teeth and leans back, seeming to be surveying her handiwork. A whimper leaves Josie’s mouth as her neck throbs, which Hope soothes by simply leaning forward and licking the soft skin. This continues for a time, Josie tilting her head to give Hope more access and the redhead leaving small kisses and licks surrounding the bite mark.

Josie's in a daze at what just happened, still unsure of how Hope is even back, or why she bit her. Her head clouded with a low level of arousal as well. She can already tell she'll have to either use a ton of foundation or a glamour spell to hide the giant hickey she is sure to have.

She groans loudly at the thought.

Hope doesn't seem anywhere near close to being done with her, eyes still golden.

A frantic knock on the door disturbs their quiet peace that had formed between them.

"Josie! Are you in there!? Open up!" Lizzie pounds on the door again, not stopping in between the yelling. Hope pulls away and growls deeply at the door, acting as if she's ready to attack Lizzie for disturbing them.

"Sh, Hope it's okay, calm down." Josie reaches up and pulls Hope back down to her neck, even going so far as to tilt her head further, exposing new skin for Hope to kiss.

The redhead takes her up on the unspoken offer and begins to lather her neck in kisses once again. 

"Go away Lizzie! I'm kind of in the middle of something!" She hopes beyond hope her sister will listen to her for once.

Her wishes go unanswered as Lizzie keeps pounding on the door.

"I felt a pain in my neck, Jo! And it isn't my pain, so it has to be from you! Either open up yourself or I'm breaking this door down!"

_ Fuck! Fuck Fuck Fuck _ !

Josie tries to sit up, but Hope is still holding her down and refuses to give her room to move.

Lizzie can't see them like this.

Hope, completely naked and straddling Josie, who clearly has a giant bite mark on her neck.

"Hope, you need to let me get up, okay?"

Hope doesn't respond other than giving a low growl that's more of a purring and continues to leave kisses all over her neck.

"Fuck, Hope you need to get off of me now." But Hope makes no move to listen to Josie. So, she tries to flip them over so she could be on top.

That was a truly terrible decision on her part. Hope seems to take this as a challenge, and proceeds to grab Josie's arms and hold them above her head again, locking her in place so she can't move.

Her cheeks flush red and she hates the way her heart beats faster. Everything about Hope holding her like this felt  _ right.  _ Like a puzzle piece finally snapping into place.

Her neck, while still sore, burned in the best way as Hope continues to leave little kisses along her rapidly heating skin. Josie makes one last attempt to move, but is no match for Hope's strength holding her in place.

The door to Hope's room flies open with the distinct sound of an exploding deadbolt as Lizzie comes storming in.

Josie closes her eyes at the loud noise, already knowing what Lizzie is about to see and wishing a Malivore portal would open in the floor right now so she could throw herself in.

"What. The. FUCK!" 

Josie peeks through tightly-squeezed eyelids and beholds the truly spectacularly mortified expression on her sister’s face, complete with a hand clapped over her mouth.

This finally seems to convince Hope to stop making love to her neck, if only to growl at the intruder.

"Lizzie, get out!" Josie’s heart starts to pick up speed, because it seems like Hope is about to jump at Lizzie. 

"Are you fucking Hope Mikaelson?!" 

Hope slowly begins to let go of Josie and sits up, still growling low in her throat. Lizzie doesn't even look at Hope but gasps again when she sees Josie's neck, which had been uncovered by Hope moving.

"You  _ have _ been fucking her! What the fuck Josie! There’s a huge ass hickey on your neck!?"

She can feel tension gathering in Hope’s legs, so Josie does the only thing she can think of. Grabbing Hope's face and thrusting it into her chest. Hope fights it at first, growling once again, but soon it turns into quiet purring noise.

"Liz, go get Dad and Freya. Now." She keeps her voice even and quiet, afraid the smallest disturbance will set Hope off again.

Lizzie watches as she pets Hope's hair, the purring growing louder.

"I can't believe you Josette. You chose _her_." Lizzie shakes her head and walks to the door, slamming it shut as she leaves. Not that this makes a whole lot of difference, as the door no longer has a latch or deadbolt or really anything to keep it closed.

Josie releases a sigh she hadn't known she’d been holding, still continuing to absentmindedly play with Hope's hair.

"Hope, you need to let me get up." She says quietly but firmly, making sure Hope knows she's serious. The redhead looks up at her with bright golden eyes, looking far too cute for the situation.

She tilts her head forward so that their foreheads are touching. Hope moves her lips down to Josie's nose and kisses the tip of it. 

Flushing red at the kiss, Josie feels Hope allow her space to move, and sits up. Hope had released her hands and was now sitting on Josie's lap.

Before Josie can react, Hope wraps her legs around Josie's stomach, keeping them locked together.

"No, Hope. You have to let me up." 

A whine makes its way to her voice at the emotional energy she's already had to expend. She hates that Lizzie will never let her forget this. Also, right now she feels a wave of worry for Hope again. She may be in human form, but it seems like her mind is still the wolfs’, albeit much more amorous than the fluffy puppy she’s come to know.

Hope, thankfully, unwraps herself from Josie and falls back on the bed, Josie keeps herself from staring at the rest of Hope's body and goes to find clothes for them both.

When she hears Hope try to follow her, she turns around.

"No. Stay there, you need clothes first." She turns back towards the closet but not before hearing the pitiful whimper that comes out of Hope's mouth. It reminded her too much of the fluffy wolf from before.

Her heart clenches as she works faster to get the clothes they need. Once finished grabbing them, putting the clothes on Hope seems to be an even bigger mountain to face.

The redhead seems to hate the idea of helping Josie put the clothes on her, but she lets Josie do it without squirming too much.

Finally, after what felt like too long, Hope is decent again.

"You are going to cause me even more trouble." Josie grumbles quietly, saying it mostly to herself than at Hope. Josie hears a knock at the door, and goes to open it, but Hope seems to have other ideas. Whimpers erupt from her mouth and she wraps Josie up into a hug, refusing to let go with her legs circling around to Josie's waist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uho another issue has arrived 😈 what'd y'all think? 👀


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! here's a longer chapter for y'all! 
> 
> The next thing I'll probably post is a one shot that's about Josie giving Hope hickeys! In super excited for it, standing at a whopping 12000 words long 😂 anyways, hope you enjoy!

"Hope. Let me go."

A quiet whimpering comes from Hope's throat as the human-wolf pushes her face further into Josie's neck.

The knocking comes again, followed by a voice calling out. "Josie, are you there? Lizzie said Hope changed back?"

Freya's voice rings through the broken wooden door that was barely hanging closed from the hinges. Josie can only sigh and comb her fingers through Hope's hair, attempting to calm the whimpering girl.

"I'm not going to leave you, I promise. But you need to let me go, okay? I'll be right here." Hope pauses her whimpering to look at Josie. She seems to make a decision as she nuzzles her face into Josie’s neck again, the whimpering continuing.

Josie releases a loud sigh, “Screw it. You can come in Freya.”

At this point, Josie is far too tired to force Hope off of her or keep worrying about everyone else’s reaction. The other girl is only comfortable being as close as possible to Josie, her legs wrapped tight around Josie’s waist.

The broken door falls halfway off its hinges as Freya pushes it open, looking more or less startled by the damaged door. Her expression shifts to confusion then realization once she sees Hope pressed tightly against Josie’s body.

“I see you figured it out.” Freya begins to speak before Josie could say a word. All thoughts leave Josie’s mind at Freya’s words.

_ What the hell is that supposed to mean…? _

“I’m sorry, but figured out what?” Freya looks between her and Hope, who finally decides to look up at her aunt, body still curled into Josie. Her golden eyes are plainly visible to the older witch as she stares in apparent awe.

Freya steps closer and kneels in front of both girls staring intently.

“Fascinating.” She keeps staring with furrowed brows, confusion clear on her face. “What happened?”

Josie sighs and continues petting Hope’s hair, running her fingers through the auburn locks. “I woke up and she was on top of me…”

Josie trails off hesitant to repeat what had happened barely twenty minutes prior. A blush makes its way to her face at the reminder of what happened and her bitemark throbs.

“And Hope was back to her human self, but it seems like she is still a wolf? Or at least her mind is her wolfs?” she trails off and shifts into a more comfortable position, Hope moving seamlessly to stay molded into her side.

“What’s on your neck?” Heat spreads across her face once again at the mention of her neck. Freya steps forward for a closer look, which instantly brings Hope’s head up from Josie’s shoulder, a low growl of warning starting in her chest.

“Shh, no growling.” Josie hushes and bops Hope once on the nose, the other girl quiets and burrows further into her without any more fuss.

“Um, Hope may have bitten me when she was on top of me before…” Josie mumbles the words and refuses to make eye contact with Freya rather keeping her eyes to the floor where many of Hope’s canvases are scattered.

“Can you let Hope go?” Freya doesn’t move closer, respecting the carefully placed boundaries that Hope seems to have decided are just for Josie and her. Josie shakes her head once, eyes not looking at Freya and keeps her focus on Hope.   
  


“Do you know why she bit me? She seemed adamant about being on top of me and not letting me move, but it was like she was marking me purposefully.”

Freya is too quiet, a furrow between her brow, Josie knows she has an answer, but the witch doesn’t speak or say anything other than a few words in Latin. Josie can feel the magic come off Freya and go onto Hope in waves. Within seconds Hope’s eyes droop shut and begin to close before she drifts off completely, slumping tonelessly onto Josie’s shoulder.

“What did you do to her?” She can’t hide the panic in her voice as she shifts herself to look at Hope’s now sleeping body. Freya stands up and helps Josie lay Hope down on the bed so she’s no longer carrying her.

“I did a simple sleep spell. It should keep her out for a few hours until we can figure out what to do.”

Josie keeps her eyes on Hope, feeling drawn to the sleeping girl. Josie can’t remember ever seeing Hope look so peaceful. Any time the Tribrid walked around she seemed to be scowling and on the verge of a rage.

Josie looks up at the older witch when she hears Freya sighing to herself. “What did you get yourself into Hope…”

She shakes her head again looking over at Josie whose gaze went back to Hope.

“What can we do?” Josie bites her lip and moves a strand of hair that had fallen into Hope’s face behind her ear, caressing her cheek as she does.

“There is something that might work, but it’s dangerous.”

Josie looks up, already halfway off the bed. “What is it? Can we do it now? How can I help?” Josie begins talking fast and is already ready to do anything and everything to save Hope.

“Hope is trapped within her own mind, trapped with the whims of her wolf. If I send you into her mind, you might be able to bring her back.”

Josie is up and already nodding “Whatever it takes I’ll do it.”

“This won’t be easy. You’ll be going into Hope’s subconscious, which she’s no longer in control of. It’ll be dangerous and there is a chance you won’t be able to come back…”

“I’ll do anything to bring her back. I promise.”

\---

“Lizzie! Will you just talk to me?!”

Josie stays locked out of her room with Lizzie on the other side of the door. Freya has begun the set up and is gathering everything they’ll need for the spell.

A few hours had passed since Lizzie had walked in on her and Hope, her sister more angry than Josie had realized.

“Lizzie please! I’m going to be doing something potentially dangerous and may not come back at all! Can you please just talk to me?”

There’s silence for a few moments before the door swings open, Lizzie stands arms crossed and tears in her eyes.

“You’ve been ignoring me for the past two weeks! Why should you want to talk to me when you’ve got that Freak!” Lizzie walks back into their room, her back towards Josie.

“Don’t call her that. I haven’t given up my entire life for Hope, but she needs me, and I didn’t really have a choice on her gluing herself to me.” There’s no small hint of pleading in her voice. Wanting desperately for her sister to give her some comfort before she does something semi-stupid.

“Oh, so you letting her stay with you instead of locking her in the werewolf cages where she’s supposed to be isn’t a choice?! I swear Josette, you're as obsessed with her as you were when we were kids!”

Josie’s entire body freezes. Those words brought back painful memories of something she desperately had wanted to forget. She swallows hard the lump that was forming in her throat. She shouldn’t be as surprised at Lizzie’s outbursts. She wasn’t totally wrong though. Ever since Hope changed she’s barely even spoken to Lizzie. This argument was long overdue.

“I’m going into Hope’s mind to help bring her back. Freya is going to send me there and I may not come back.” Josie waits for the outburst her sister may bring.

Magic crackles in the air as Lizzie takes a deep breath. “So that’s it then? She’s not only stolen Dad from us, now she’s taking you away too? What happens, Josette, if you bring her back?”

Lizzie doesn’t give her a chance to respond before she keeps going. “So, you’re just gonna go and save the almighty hero only for her to leave you and not talk to you when she’s not driven by her inner mutt?! For you to not even matter when she comes back?”

Josie recoils at the words, her own insecurities coming through, doubts she’d had for years screaming at her through Lizzie’s words.

“That won’t happen… It’ll be different when she comes back. I can feel it.” Her reply is weak even to her own ears.

Lizzie begins to chuckle, a laugh filled with no happiness or warmth as a realization seems to spread across her face. “You might want to throw your life away for her, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit around and watch. Good luck Jo, I hope you don’t die.”

With that said, Lizzie pushes past Josie and leaves the room, tears already beginning to stream down her face.

Josie’s not far behind her with the tears as sobs begin to wrack her body. That was the worst fight she and Lizzie had gotten into in a long time, she hopes she survives long enough to have Lizzie back on her side again and not angry with her.

Somehow, Josie finds herself back at Hope’s bed where she’s still sleeping peacefully where she’d left her earlier. She strokes Hope’s cheek once more before laying down next to her, curling into her side.

She feels comfort by Hope’s warmth and wishes the other girl was awake and safely in her right mind. After all this she just wants Hope back. Josie’s eyes begin to drift closed and she leans into the warmth, falling asleep.

\---

A few hours since Lizzie stormed off found Josie pacing around Hope’s room anxiously. She woke up from her nap to find Hope still passed out next to her, her arm somehow having wrapped itself around her waist. Freya had been gathering supplies for the spell she would do on Josie. Apparently, it was a tricky spell and would be something like astral projection into Hope’s mind.

Hope had woken up once during the hours leading up to the spell, not long after Josie had woken up. Josie had thankfully been sitting next to her, so the wolf clung to her body and refused to let her go instead of wandering all over the school after her. Josie doesn’t want to imagine what would have happened had she not been in the room and the damage Hope could have caused while looking for her.

Freya came into Hope’s room to find her cuddled around Josie and promptly put the wolf to sleep once again. Now it was a waiting game. Waiting for Freya to finish preparation and for Josie to clear her mind.

She watches Hope sleep and feels a bit like a creep doing it, she doesn’t stop staring. Josie had offered to help Freya anyway she could but the older witch had denied, needing Josie to be at full strength before going in.

“Are you ready?” The voice jars Josie out of her thoughts and her staring, bringing her gaze back to Freya. She quickly takes one last look at Hope before nodding.

“Yes.”

Freya hands her some sort of brew that tastes a bit like feet. She stops herself from gagging and drinks it all in one go, but she can’t hide the grimace that momentarily twists her lips.

“Your mind will be separated from your body, and I’ll send you into Hope. Once you’re in, you have to find Hope’s inner human and bring her out with you. Don’t get distracted or you could be stuck inside Hope’s mind and if you do you’ll both be lost. Whatever’s holding her back is something big and whatever it is will fight you all the way. Don’t let her.”

Josie swallows and nods in understanding, grabbing onto Freya’s hand. The older witch begins to chant in Latin, the words Josie doesn’t understand begin to take effect.

Her body feels weak and begins to droop over as a tiredness wracks across her entire body, everything is heavy as her eyes begin to droop closed once, and then twice, before shutting all the way and her world turns to dark.

\---

Josie opens her eyes to bright sunshine on her face. She squints and puts a hand up to make her some shade as looks around, her eyes adjusting around the dancing spots.

She was, until moments ago, lying on a mossy and mushroom covered log in a part of a strangely iridescent forest; trees all around her with multicolored fallen leaves making a carpet across the forest floor that crunches underfoot. She was wearing one of her favorite Salvator uniforms that she mainly wore during the winter months. Why she was wearing it now when she hadn’t been wearing it before is a mystery. 

She turns around and finds a long grassy path, leading… Somewhere. She hopes it’ll take her out of this forest and, not having anywhere else to start, begins trekking down the path.

As she goes the wind starts to pick up and begin howling in her ears, but feels no cold nor warmth as she walks. Nor much of anything else for that matter. It feels much like a dream might, as if she’s not really here and only acting as if anything she sees or touches is really there.

The autumn leaves scattered across the ground make this dream-like place all the more realistic. Josie understands why Freya had cautioned her to stay focused, it would be all too easy for her to lose focus. 

After walking for what could be a few minutes or hours, Josie sees the trees begin to give way to a great clearing and a huge house set right at its heart. She can’t make out details from where she is, so she begins to walk closer as the house comes into view. It only seems to grow larger the closer Josie gets as she begins to realize it is a mansion rather than a house. Once she gets even closer, a memory at the back of her mind is pricked. Flashbacks of her mom telling her stories of this place and showing pictures to her from before.

_ This must be the Mikaelson Manor… _

Her Mother had told her stories of the Mikaelson family, Josie having begged and pleaded to know more, (especially since she wanted to know more about Hope). Her mother had thankfully indulged her requests and told her stories while also showing her pictures of her time with Klaus.

Josie had been almost fourteen when she had found out Hope was a Mikaelson and not a Marshall. The revelation had shaken the school, and the once quiet witch Josie had a crush on became a recluse who shut everybody out and cut ties with everyone.

Not that many tried to continue the friendship…

Josie had asked so many times for any and all information she could get her hands on about the Mikaelsons, Lizzie had been partially right in her assessment. Josie had been a little obsessed.

After a while, her mom had come to expect the questions and answered them willingly, always looking at Josie with a knowing smile whenever Hope had been mentioned. Of course, Josie always made sure Lizzie was never around when she asked Caroline. Lizzie hated Hope and knowing Josie didn’t would lead to nothing but an argument.

Guilt stabs at the base of her brain again for what happened when she was twelve. Hope hadn’t deserved it, neither had Lizzie.

Josie swallows hard and keeps going, almost out of the forest.

Standing at the door of the giant manor felt daunting and intense. She was glad that she was out of the forest and hoped this would lead her to Hope. She pushes the door open which is thankfully unlocked and steps inside.

__

Josie had seen all the pictures her mom had of the Mikaelsons and their manor, but there hadn't been many. So when she steps inside, she’s shocked at the number of paintings and light shining through the home. Even though none of this is real, it feels exactly as if Josie is there at the house in New Orleans.

She takes another hesitant step through the foyer and turns in slow circles as she walks, eyes darting into every corner as she goes. An uneasy feeling washes over her and keeps her steps slow and quiet. Josie has the distinct feeling of being in some B horror flick and some axe wielding maniac or horrifying lagoon monster is going to jump out any minute.

She curses Lizzie from the millionth time for making her watch multiple scary movies; she absolutely hates them and still gets nightmares when she watches them.

A squeak from the top stair sounds as loud as a canon in the quiet, sending Josie’s already heavily thumping heart into overdrive. Slowly, after a near minute of listening for anything that might have reacted to the squeaky step, she starts inching her way down the hallway to her left, muttering fervent prayers to nobody in particular.

“Please no creepy twins. Please no creepy twins.”

When her and Lizzie had been ten years old, their mom and dad dressed them up as the twins from The Shining. Lizzie forced her to watch it when they were thirteen. Nightmares still plague her every once in a while because of that damned movie.

“H-hello?” her voice echoes off the walls but no response comes.

Josie notices a light turned on in a room not far from where she is. She almost wants to call out again but thinks better of it and, when she’s standing in front of the door, she takes a deep breath and just pushes it open.

Josie stops as a gasp tumbles out of her mouth unconsciously. She looks around, staring at the dozens of canvases, of all shapes and sizes covering the walls, all of them portraits of her. The paintings are stunning and capture so much detail that they can’t be real and she can’t stop looking at them.

One of the paintings, the largest of them, isn’t just about her. Hope’s in it too.

Both of them are leaning against each other, Hope’s arm around her waist. It’s not finished either. The outline tracing is done, but only about half of it is actually painted. But it’s still filled with so much detail it’s like a snapshot from a memory Josie didn’t have.

A sound to her left brings her out of her reverence as another door opens in the room as someone comes in. Josie jumps at the noise but heaves a sigh of relief when she sees Hope; clear blue eyes and all.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What'd ya think? =D


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Here's another chapter 💙
> 
> I should write a book called "how to overwork your beta" cause I have a tooooon of stuff coming up soon! Tomorrow I'll post a chapter of dive bar and then sometime within the next week or two I have a 12000 word oneshot that my beta has and another 4000 word oneshot that's a coffee shop au! 😋 
> 
> Lastly I'm almost done with a laundromat au so with another week or two we'll get an update of that as well 😇
> 
> Oh! Also, theres a scandalous painting in this as well in the chapter that is a tad risque 🙈
> 
> Hope you enjoy!!!

“Josie?” Hope’s staring at her, her voice trembling and her body still and frozen.

“Hope.” Relief touches Josie’s voice and she can’t stop herself from rushing towards the redhead. So much has happened in the last couple weeks that Josie’s emotions are everywhere, many times she had thought that Hope wouldn’t have made it.

She has her arms thrown around Hope’s body and she burrows her face into the girl’s neck, tears almost threatening to spill from her eyes. She can feel the heat from Hope’s body which surprises her momentarily. This was still, for all intents and purposes, a dream. Why would bodies have to be warm?

After a few more seconds of just Josie hugging her, Hope finally moved and wrapped her arms awkwardly around Josie, holding her close.

“I don’t understand… Are you real?”

“Yes. Your aunt Freya did a spell to send me to your mind.” Josie explains, her face still buried in Hope’s neck and a wave of warmth and squirmy happiness as the redhead softened slightly in her arms. So much had happened since the last time Josie had seen Hope like this; and she may not have been close to this version of Hope, but she was still incredibly important to Josie. She felt a connection to the fluffy wolf as well as to human Hope.

“Wait…” Hope started, pulling back from their embrace to look Josie in the eye. “Freya? I don’t understand.”

Hope stares at her with confused eyes but doesn’t take her gaze away from Josie, staring deeply into brown eyes.

“It’s a long story. What’s the last thing you remember?”

Hope’s eyes unfocus and glaze over at the question. She brings a hand up to her head and groans loudly, pressing her fingers to her temples. “I don’t know. I can’t remember.” 

Fear pulses through Josie, a sense of urgency running through her again as she begins to panic. They need to find a way out of here as soon as possible.

“Hope, you’ve been stuck in your wolf form for the past two weeks. I’ve been taking care of you and we need to bring you back in full control before it’s too late.” Josie speaks slowly as she says it, afraid of how Hope might react.

“No… No. That can’t be right. I’ve only been here a few hours, maybe a day or two at most…” Hope moves past Josie towards the canvases, she looks around as if searching for answers. She must not find what she’s looking for because she turns back towards Josie with a frantic look in her eyes. “There’s no way I could have been gone for longer than a couple days.”

Hope looks beyond distraught, causing Josie to instantly want to fix it. She steps forward and places a hand on Hope’s arm. When Hope doesn’t pull away but leans into her touch, she pulls closer and reaches out to offer another hug.

“I know you’re confused right now Hope, but we need to get back, do you know how?” Josie speaks softly, bringing her other hand up to caress Hope’s cheek.

It seems that all boundaries Josie once had with Hope disappeared after looking after the fluffy wolf. Hope shakes her head, looking down but leaning into Josie’s touch. She keeps up her gentle ministrations enjoying how Hope’s eyes fall shut as a soft purring sound comes from Hope’s chest and throat.

Josie can’t hold in her giggle at how adorable Hope is. She really missed her. Especially seeing her in human form.

Hope opens her eyes again as a blush overtakes her cheeks which she quickly tried to hide by pulling away from Josie and turning her back toward the canvas she was working on before Josie had come in.

“They’re beautiful. You’re so talented, Hope.” Josie can’t help but stare in awe, her gaze sweeping over each painting of her that Hope had done. One was of her wearing a football jersey, another had her in Princess Leah buns, she was even wearing a Rapunzel dress in that big one over there.

She keeps looking at them as feels Hope’s eyes land on her. She doesn’t meet her gaze but keeps her focus on each painting. She sees a big canvas that’s partially hidden with a cloth covering it. Whatever it is, she can tell through the faded fabric that it’s of two people, presumably her and Hope.

Just as she walks over to the gilded frame and takes hold of the fabric to yank it off the painting, Hope jolts out of watching her and tries to stop her.

“No! Josie, wait!” It’s too late to stop the fabric from falling to the floor with a surprising weighty thud for cloth, revealing the most amazing thing Josie’s ever seen in her life.

A gasp leaves Josie’s mouth and a blush heats her entire body as she stares at the portrait of her and Hope.

Hope had painted (imagined?) Josie in nothing but a skimpy bra and underwear with Hope standing behind her. Josie’s head was tilted to one side, her neck barred for Hope as the redhead’s lips kissed with a plethora of reddened markings clear that this was not the first such kiss the redhead had put there. Her eyes were glowing gold and they almost seemed alive.

But the biggest thing, the part that made Josie’s blush go from mild heat to bonfire burn, was Hope’s hand reaching for the waistband of her painted counterpart’s panties; fingers almost disappearing from sight.

_ Is this really the way Hope sees me? _

The way Hope had depicted her was beyond beautiful, the erotic painting left her feeling both an embarrassed flush and a heat sink low in her stomach.

She keeps staring at the painting and she can almost imagine it. The feeling of Hope’s touch, her lips, her fingertips--- a moan ready to leave her mouth… But instead she’s jerked back to reality with a gasp as she suddenly becomes aware of someone right next to her.

Josie jumps and turns towards Hope who has a blush on her face as well, she picks up the cloth and throws it over the painting where it had been before to hide the painting.

“You need to leave.”

Josie is startled by Hope’s voice and how serious it sounds. She jerks her head over and frowns as the words begin to process in her mind.

“Hope, I’m not leaving you behind.”

Hope refuses to meet her gaze, so Josie reaches out and turns her body before stepping in as close to Hope as she can. Hope takes a step back to put some distance between them so Josie steps forward again.

“I came here to find you and bring you back. I am going nowhere without you.” Josie surprises herself by the conviction in her voice. Hope tries to look away but Josie doesn’t let her, carefully moving a hand up to cup Hope’s chin and directing her gaze up to where Josie is.

Hope pulls away from Josie and moves past her shaking her head and closing her eyes. “Just…Go. Please. It’s not like you should care much about me anyway.”

The hurt in Hope’s voice and body language as she faced away from Josie was tangible and it wrung Josie’s heart to see and hear.

“Hope, I do care about you.” She begins to speak but stops when Hope swivels around with fury in her eyes.

“Well, you shouldn't. Go away Josette. I don’t need you.” Hope crosses her arms and looks at Josie with narrowed eyes.

Something inside Josie snaps at hearing Hope’s words and all of the emotions that had been building up inside of her over the last two weeks and the past twenty minutes came boiling out.

“No! You are not going to speak to me like that! I get you’re angry and confused but it’s your turn to listen! So sit down! Now!” Josie snaps her fingers and points to the chair standing off to one side.

The redhead frowns more and looks at Josie with defiance in her eyes. Josie matches it with a pout on her lips. “Hope. Sit down.”

At her much more gentle command Hope starts moving and, a few seconds later when she’s sitting in the chair, she looks around as if confused how she got there. Josie didn’t waste time thinking about that though. She had a piece of her mind to give this red-headed pain in the ass.

“I have spent the last two weeks taking care of your wolf because she… you… whatever… has been clinging to me and refused to let me go. I refused to leave your side then and I refuse to leave your side now, Hope Andrea Mikaelson. So you listen to me when I say I am not leaving you! So get it through that thick, fluffy head of yours that I am not going anywhere until you are safe!”

As she rants, she paces closer to Hope and at the last word bops her on the nose, a habit picked up from her time with wolf Hope, she finishes with crossing her arms.

Hope wrinkles her nose up at being bopped and looks mildly offended.

“I don’t want you to get hurt…” Hope says it quietly and drops her gaze to the floor. Josie can’t stand it and kneels down in front of Hope. A small, amused, corner of her mind notes this is the first time in forever she’s had to look  _ up _ to meet Hope’s eyes.

She cradles Hope’s face in her hands once again and strokes her cheek. “And I don’t want you to get hurt. But right now, the longer you stay here the more your mind is disintegrated. Soon, there will be nothing left of you Hope. Help me find a way to get us out of here so we can go home, okay?”

Unshed tears form in Hope’s eyes as she nods slowly. “Okay.”

Josie nearly jumps for joy but holds herself from doing so, instead choosing to smile at Hope with eyes full of love.

Josie goes to take her hands away from Hope’s face but Hope takes hold of her wrists to keep Josie close and leans into her palm.

“I missed you.” Hope says quietly, her eyes not quite meeting Josie’s for some reason.

Josie slowly runs her hand down the side of Hope’s face down till she’s holding Hope’s chin, tilting her head until her eyes are looking into Josie’s. “I missed you too, Hope. Now, let's find a way to get you out of here.”

As if she spoke it into existence, the door Hope had come in earlier begins to open, a bright light that certainly hadn’t been there before spilling into the room. The light shining causes Josie to shield her eyes with her free hand. She stands up with Hope’s help, both looking at the door. Hope steps in front of Josie as if trying to provide some shade. And failing

“Is that the way out…?” Josie looks towards Hope who is staring at the door with unease.

“I think it is.”

“That’s great Hope! We can get out of here.” Josie smiles wide, but it drops when she sees Hope’s frown.

“What’s wrong?” Josie asks, afraid of yet another problem in this already frustrating problem. Hope doesn’t answer but keeps staring at the door with thinly veiled disdain.

“When we go back, nothing will change.” It’s not a statement, more of an observation or a question. Josie frowns and glances at the door, the light begins to dim. Josie knows she needs to act fast. She stands in front of Hope, filling the redhead's gaze so she focuses only on Josie.

“Everything will change when we go back. I promise you I won’t leave you again, okay? I promise you everything is going to change when we get back. I may not know why everything is happening like this, but I can promise you everything will change.”

The entire room begins to shake as if their time is beginning to run out. She steps forward so her body is now pressed against Hope’s.

“I promise you Hope, if you want me, I’m right here.” There’s no small amount of pleading in her voice as Hope’s eyes water with clear emotions.

“Okay.” The room stops shaking and the light gets brighter. Josie breathes a sigh of relief and smiles wide at Hope.

“Let’s go together, okay? Take my hand.” Hope does and links their fingers together, allowing Josie to walk her over to the door. Hope glances at the room filled with paintings and then turns her attention back to Josie.

“You okay?” Josie asks while squeezing Hope’s hand.

The redhead smiles back before replying. “I am now.”

With that said, Josie leads them through the bright light, continues walking until her entire vision goes from bright white to black and then nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That painting tho 😏


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeey! I'm back!!! I'm so glad I can drop this, heres another chapter 🥳🥳🥳
> 
> Some self advertising I just posted a super long oneshot yesterday! So if you wanna go check it out, it's about Josie giving Hope hickeys lol 
> 
> Anyway! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

Hope wakes up and feels like she’s on a cloud, light and fluffy and warm. She rolls further on top of her pillow as her consciousness comes slowly back to her. 

She hears a soft laugh as she buries her face further into her pillow, it’s the gentle laughter that wakes her up fully as she sits up and opens her eyes. 

Her mind is fuzzy from what happened prior to her unexpected nap, and sees Josie Saltzman under her, eyes closed as she sleeps. 

The laughter comes from her aunt Freya who is sitting criss cross on the floor with the leftover markings of a spell around her. There’s an open Grimoire sitting nearby that Hope hadn’t seen before, the book held worn leather and frayed edges. 

“Aunt Freya?” She remembers Josie saying her aunt had come to help her, but still couldn't comprehend what she was seeing. Her mind was fuzzy and not clear, her memories fought against her as they rebelled to return. She couldn’t remember nearly anything from the last few weeks. 

The only clarity she could remember was of Josie. Painting Josie, seeing her for the first time in what felt like forever. Now that she’s awake, it feels like she’s come out of a deep sleep, she focuses on her aunt but doesn’t move away from Josie. 

“Freya, what happened?” Josie moves under her and makes a little whimpering sound. Hope instantly brings a hand up to the girls hair and runs her hands through it. The whimpering soft as Josie curls further into Hope’s side. 

She looks back at Freya who has a single eyebrow raised. “You tell me, Hope. Because it seems to me that you found your soulmate but have refused to get close to her.” Hope jerks her head back down to Josie, checking to see if she’s still asleep. 

“I put a spell on her that’ll keep her asleep for just a little longer. I figured you wouldn't want her to hear our talk.” Hope releases a breath in relief. 

“What were you thinking?” There’s a hint of judgement and anger in her aunt’s voice and Hope looks away from it, not wanting to see the disappointment. She doesn’t answer but instead keeps quiet.

“Hope, talk to me, what were you thinking, why didn’t you tell her?” Freya’s voice is stern but still soft, trying to coax the answer from Hope rather than demanding it.

“Do you ever think that because we’re Mikaelsons that loving us is a death sentence?” 

The question lingers in the air once Hope utters the words. Freya stays silent, seeing that Hope has more to say. “I can’t have her get hurt. I can’t sentence her that way, she deserves  _ everything.”  _

Hope keeps going, her eyes staying on Josie, watching her sleeping form and feeling her heart swell once again. 

“I was terrified she wouldn't accept me, so I made the choice to only watch and care for her from a distance. I don’t think I could bare the thought of her rejecting me…” As Hope trails off, she looks back towards her aunt when Freya releases a deep sigh. 

“Hope, your fears are justifiable, one’s I’ve had over and over again, but you can’t let that stop you from loving and living your life. You forget Hope, that it’s not just your choice.” 

“She wouldn’t want me. Especially not with all that I’ve put her through.” Hope isn’t expecting the laugh to come from her aunt, her head jerks up at the laughter. 

“I’ve spent the last week with her Hope, and the mere thought that she wouldn't want you is the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard. She’s so gone for you already, and she doesn’t even know it.” The sentence shocks Hope to the core, did Josie know they were soulmates? Her terror must show through because Freya is speaking before Hope has a chance to ask. 

“She doesn’t know. God that girl is brilliant but not the smartest when it comes to how others see her.” Hope growls low in warning. “Calm down, I spent a long time with her and she’s more powerful than even she knows, but she’s only slowly coming to terms with what she feels. She’ll find out soon, if she doesn’t already know now.” 

Freya stops to let Hope take in her words before continuing again. “Give this a chance Hope, don’t let your fears ruin something that could potentially end both your lives.” 

Hope looks back down to Josie watching the sleeping girl carefully. Freya rises from the floor and walks over to Hope. “I’m so glad you’re safe Hope, listen to what I said, okay?” With a parting hug and kiss on the head, Freya begins to leave. After a spell leaves her lips she walks out the door and shuts it quietly. 

Not long after that does Hope feel movement beside her as Josie slowly opens her eyes. “Hope?” Josie brings a hand up to her face to rub the sleep away from her eyes. Hope can’t help but smile at how adorable Josie is. 

“Hey Jo, how’re you feeling?” Hope’s hand reaches out to move a stray hair from out of Josie’s face, but stops herself, dropping her hand to rest awkwardly in her lap. 

Josie luckily doesn’t notice her pathetic pining and sits up on the bed. Before she even knows what’s happening, Josie is wrapping her arms around Hope and tugging her closer into a hug. Hope freezes for a fraction of a moment but then melts into Josie’s arms, burrowing her face into Josie's neck. 

She breathes in deeply the smell of Josie she’s come to love. It calms her immediately and causes her to release a purring sound that emanates deep within her chest. Heat touches the back of her neck. 

She forgoes her embarrassment momentarily while she hugs onto Josie even tighter. Josie pulls back but keeps her face close to Hope’s while her hands encase her face. “I missed you so much.” 

There’s so much emotion in Josie’s voice that she can hardly stand it. Josie was never like this with Hope before. Josie’s words from earlier echo on her mind:

_ Everything will change when we go back. I promise. _

_ I promise you Hope, if you want me, I’m right here. _

For the first time in a long time, Hope starts to believe that promise. Her heart is already in too deep and Josie’s is perfect, so perfect. 

The purring continues as Siphoner leans forward and presses her forehead against Hope’s. They’re so close to each other that her brain basically short circuits, her already fragile heart ready to be crushed from how Josie is looking at her. 

“I missed you too Jo, I’m glad you’re okay.” Josie smiles at her and keeps a hand on her cheek. For one dangerous second, Hope swears she sees Josie glance at her lips. The moment is over before she can even comprehend if she saw what she thought she did. 

Hesitation is clear on her face as Josie pulls back with red on her cheeks. Hope clears her throat and looks around her room for the first time since she woke up. Her entire focus had been on Josie rather than her surroundings. 

She usually keeps things semi clean and orderly, except her art supplies, but now it is clear that there are things in here that are not her’s. Josie’s backpack lays against the wall, along with books she doesn’t recognize. 

Josie notices her looking around the room and goes to speak before Hope can ask. “I stayed in here the past couple weeks, your wolf didn’t want to be apart from me and Lizzie forced me to stay out of our room… She was afraid you had fleas…”

Hope feels a bit offended by the thought, already scowling. She took pride in making sure her wolf fur was kept clean and orderly rather than dirty. She wasn’t some mangy animal. 

“I never had fleas.” She’s more than a little disgruntled, it doesn’t help that a giggle comes out of Josie’s mouth a second later. 

Hope looks even more offended for a moment as she looks back to the laughing brunette. “I know you don’t. I even gave you a bath so your coat was extra clean and shiny.” Josie laughs again at whatever facial expression her face goes into. Probably something scandalized. 

“You gave me a bath?” 

Josie nods her head and looks away, her cheeks turning red in a way that Hope absolutely loves. “Well, it was more of a shower actually, You got stuck in a mud hole and I had to fish you out, so I took you to the showers and cleaned you off.” The more Josie speaks the redder her face gets and the more she can’t seem to bare the thought of looking at Hope. 

Hope can feel her lips turn into a smirk. “So we took a shower… together?” There is no small amount of smugness in her voice as she watches Josie cover her face. "It wasn’t like that! You wouldn't leave me! And I was not going to sleep in a bed with a mud covered puppy!” 

Hope scowl comes back, “Did you just call my fearsome wolf side a puppy?” 

Josie laughs loudly again, her head thrown back a sparkle comes into her eyes as her voice lowers in a teasing tone. “Oh yes such a fearsome warrior. As if you didn’t let me dress you up and whimper when I told you that you couldn't cuddle with me.” Josie looks positively delighted as Hope’s cheeks are the ones to turn red now. 

“I let you dress me up?” Hope swallows hard and speaks slowly. The back of her neck heats. She cannot let Josie tell another soul about that. Ever. 

Josie’s eyes sparkle with barely contained laughter. “Did you ever, you would wear anything I wanted to as long as it smelled like me. I have so many pictures.” her heart shatters at that. Josie leans over and grabs her phone, ready to show Hope all the damage. She doesn’t let it happen as she decides to make a move instead.

She grabs Josie around her stomach and pushes her down on the bed, carefully climbing on top of her. “I think you’re actually going to delete all those incriminating evidence of me, don’t you think?” Josie fights back against Hope, but is absolutely no match as Hope holds her down. 

Suddenly Hope has Josie’s arms above her head and is straddling her waist. Something inside of her delights in holding Josie down like this, as if she is prey, and Hope the predator. 

“I’ll never delete them! They’re mine now.” Josie fights against Hope so she does the one thing she knows will get results. She holds Josie’s arms with one hand and with her other slowly brings it out to toy with Josie further. 

“Are you sure about that Jo? It seems right now I’m the one in control.” Hope trails her fingers to Josie’s wide open side, ready to tickle the poor girl under her. 

Josie seems to pick up on what is about to happen and fights back with more emphasis. “Hope, don’t you dare!” Hope doesn’t listen and begins her tickling. Josie thrashes under her and squirms in laughter unable to do anything else. 

Hope doesn’t stop, going from Josie’s sides to her stomach and back again. She hasn’t seen Josie laugh this hard before and is beyond thrilled to see it. After a minute of nonstop tickling, Hope lets Josie catch her breath. 

“You… are… evil…” Josie pants out, her chest rising and falling in a delicious way that has Hope licking her lips. She shakes her head and prays Josie won’t notice. 

“So, are you going to delete all the incriminating evidence you have of me?” Hope smiles low and dangerously down at Josie. She smirks as Josie bucks again when Hope rests her hand down on Josie’s uncovered stomach. Her shirt had ridden up in Hope’s tickling, showing off the full expanse of Josie’s abdomen. 

“Never.” Josie says with such conviction that Hope is momentarily persuaded to give up and let Josie have this. She quickly decides against that as she goes back to the tickling, enjoying Josie’s shrieks of protest once again. 

Josie throws her head back and lifts her body up as she tries to get away from Hope again, panting as she’s out of breath. Hope went to adjust her grip on Josie but is momentarily stopped as she has a clearer view of Josie’s neck. 

A growl leaves her throat as she sees Josie’s neck clearly for the first time. Noticing distinct marks of purple and red against her skin that form a trail going down to Josie’s collarbone. 

She growls again in anger at seeing them, she stops tickling all together and curses herself for not noticing them earlier. 

_ Who dared touch Josie? Her Josie? Marking the skin so present.  _

“Hope, talk to me, what’s going on?” Josie can’t do anything but stare at her as Hope still holds her arms and body down. 

“Who touched you?” Hope’s voice is lower than normal

Josie looks confused until Hope brings her free hand up to her neck, wrapping loosely around Josie’s throat. The girl beneath her stops moving all together, Hope can feel her heart beating out of control. 

“Who touched you?” Hope says again, she wants to tear them apart, and make them regret ever laying a hand on Josie. 

“You did, Hope.” She freezes as Josie speaks. Her confusion must be present on her face because Josie continues. 

“You woke up today and got on top of me, marking my neck.” Josie’s cheeks are burning in a way Hope would enjoy otherwise, but is still shocked. 

“I did these?” Regret crosses her mind momentarily at what her wolf did, but mostly satisfaction was thoroughly present.

_ Everyone should know that she is Mine. _

Josie nods her head slowly, still unable to get up as Hope holds her down. She finds her fangs coming out of her gums already, wanting to cement the most present bite on Josie’s neck. Make it even deeper, solidifying the bond.

The second the thought crosses her mind Hope begins to panic. Her wolf started the process of the bond already… If she doesn’t complete it soon…

Hope’s panic must show through as Josie watches her closely. “What’s wrong?” Josie is able to sit up now that Hope doesn’t hold her down, having been shocked and still staring at Josie’s marks. Now Hope sits in Josie’s lap with one hand tilting Josie’s face away so she can stare at the deep hickeys present. 

“I’m so sorry.” The regret from before is back with reinforcement and sits heavily in her stomach. She may have fast forward the entire mating process and taken away Josie’s choice. She curses her lack of control and tries to figure out what to do next. 

“Hope, talk to me, what’s going on.” Hope is brought back to the present and looks at Josie with unfocused eyes. She needs to talk to Freya again. Now. 

“I have to go.” She doesn’t let Josie stop her as she gets off the bed, moving towards the door as she does. “Wait, Hope stop.” Josie gets off the bed and follows after her but Hope is already to the door. 

“Don’t follow me Josette. I have to go.” She keeps her voice cold and distant, afraid of the consequences that may come if she doesn’t find answers soon. Regret and guilt dig deep into her stomach forming a pit as she watches Josie’s face fall. 

She doesn’t look back before walking out the door in search of her aunt. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha sorry for the ending 🙈

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoy! let me know what you think! Catch me on twitter @Bluejay720


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